Shadow hunter
by Xross-33
Summary: After Maka and Soul have a fight Tsubaki is forced to wield Soul in battle creating the new and deadly scythe technique known as Shadow Hunter. However will this be a one time thing or will Tsubaki refuse to let Soul go? and how does Maka feel about Tsubaki using her weapon?
1. Fracture revised

Shadow hunter

Soul Pov

I stood in front of Maka not believing what I was hearing! Was she actually trying to ground me! I accidentally break my own TV playing play station and she thinks she has the right to say I can't play anymore!

"Who the fuck do you think you are trying to boss me around like this!" I yell getting in her face.

She straightens her back so she can stand face to face with me "We shouldn't even be having this conversation! You should just listen to me and go to your room!"

That's it. "Why don't you shove it up your ass you tiny little bitch!"

"Lazy, uncool, freak!"

"Stupid, flat chested, bitch"

"I'm your master listen to me damn it!"

"You are not my master!"

I stormed out of the room and jumped on my bike, too angry to think about where I'm going. I hit the pavement going well over the speed limit, the cool air blowing through my hair, calming my nerves. 'What the hell his her problem? Should I apologize? Hell No! This time I'm definitely right! I'm sure Blackstar will let me crash on his couch until Maka comes to her senses.'

I pull up at Blackstar's house and ring the door bell. Tsubaki answers the door in her usual attire with a smile on her face, "Soul what are you doing here?" I sigh.

"Maka and I got into another fight, can I stay here while she calms down?"

Tsubaki moves out of the doorway holding the door open, "Sure come inside."

"Thanks" I sit down on the closest couch and she takes the seat across from me. "So is Blackstar here?"

Tsubaki smiled fondly " No he saw something on TV, then he said something about surpassing god and ran off." now it was my turn to smile.

"Is it hard being his partner?"

"Sometimes, but he always keeps it interesting. So, what were you and Maka fighting about?" wondered Tsubaki

"Something stupid" I said leaning back into the softness of the couch.

"Most fights are I'm sure Maka will calm down soon, until then stay as long as you like." added Tsubaki cheerfully. ' Wonder if she's still mad ' I thought picking up my cell and calling her twice with no answer. "No answer she must still be pissed. Mind if I sleep on the couch?"

Yawning Tsubaki said, "It's getting late huh? Sure ill get you a pillow," she said standing up. All of a sudden the door burst open revealing Blackstar holding up a golden plated championship belt.

" Haha once again the great Blackstar has claimed victory!" he looked over at me. "Ah! Soul is here to bask in my glory!"

I grabbed the pillow from Tsubaki "Actually I'm going to crash on your couch." Blackstar dropped the belt

" Yeah even gods need to sleep." he said as he collapsed on the ground. "Blackstar!" Tsubaki rushed over to black star. 'He does keep it interesting' I thought with a smile.

I'm going to go back through and edit the first couple chapters. Nothing major just filling in some blanks and fixing the grammar mistakes that I cant believe you guys read through, really way to go! I'm sure you thought "it'll get better eventually" well rest assured the time has come! As always R&R! :3


	2. Shadow hunter: a new type of resonance!

Shadow hunter

"Soul wake up" soul rubbed the sleep from his eyes to see Tsubaki shaking him awake. "Huh? What's up?" mutters soul still half asleep. "Shinigami sama summoned us!" Soul suddenly awake shot up "what are we waiting for?"

Maka, Soul, black star, and Tsubaki all stood in front of Shinigami with Tsubaki standing between Soul and Maka. "**I called you here because a week a go I sent Kid Kun and the Thomson sisters to investigate disappearances in Shako town. They haven't reported in a week and I'm getting worried. Id like to send you three to help Kid incase some thing happened** (on the verge of tears)** please bring Kid home safe!"**

Black Star pumped his fist in the air. "No need to fear the amazing Black Star and his side kicks will bring him home safe!" Shinigami clapped **"oh thank you"** Maka spoke up "when do we leave" her voice sounded like she had been crying.** "Now! Sid kun is waiting out side for you!" **said Shinigami now back to his usual sunny attitude.

(In the helicopter)

Sid was talking "all right the plan is for you to infiltrate the town in groups of two and ask around about Kid. So Black star and Tsubaki will go through the south entrance while Maka and Soul-" Maka interrupted "I don't want to work with soul" Black star chimed in "it's alright a god like me can kick ass no matter who he works with! I'll go with Maka and Soul can go with Tsubaki (this is not Black star x Maka)." Tsubaki nodded "me and soul will go through the North entrance and you and make through the south." "Every one good with this?" Sid asked. No interjections.

As Soul and Tsubaki stepped onto the ground soul looked back at Black star "Take care of Maka for me." "No one will touch her with an intimidating god like me around!" yelled black star as the helicopter flew to the other side of town. "Let's go." said Tsubaki walking towards the front gate "yeah it's not cool to be late." As they walked through the gate Tsubaki shivered "soul there's something weird about this town" He kept walking "what do you mean?" she followed him closely "it's too quiet there are no birds or children, I don't even see any people. (children aren't people lol :b)" "let's just hurry up and find Kid."

"Kid!"

"Kid!"

"KID!"

"Soul, Tsubaki!" Kid ran out of a grocery store to their right. Tsubaki jogged up to him while Soul lazily walked over, "What happened? Your dad sent us to make sure you were ok."

"You wouldn't believe what happened. Right after we arrived we were attacked by 2 witches we were able to beat them easy enough but i got separated from the twins" Kid looked around "follow me. I was looking for them when I ran into you guys." he said and they began following him in the direction of a big office building he walked while he talked "I think one last witch is behind the disappearances. I've been looking for them but I haven't been able to sense their soul wavelengths until just now their on the top floor of that building over there." He pointed to the tallest building. Tsubaki stopped in her tracks Soul turned around and kid kept walking ahead "Tsubaki what's wrong" she put her hands to her lips "listen!" Soul looked around listening for any sound. "I don't hear any thing." Tsubaki frowned "exactly can you hear Kid's foot steps. Soul looked to kid as he turned around and smiled" "Kid what's going on?" kid turned to dust panicked soul ran forward "KID!" Tsubaki grabbed his arm "Don't it's a trap!" Soul pushed her to the ground and dove next to her "Death Cannon!" twin blasts obliterated the spot they were they were just standing, they looked up kid was squatting arms out with Liz and Patty in execution mode outside the large building. "Tsubaki are you okay?"  
"Yeah but something's wrong with kid."  
"Yeah he's about to have a serious case of my foot up his ass!" Soul stopped when a peculiarly tall man with purple hair walked out of the building. He was dressed in a black suede suit sporting a fluffy purple pimp hat and a cane. He spoke in a deep echoing voice like several people talking at once "Seems you missed, Kid Kun how about you try again?" Kid lowered himself into his stance. "Tsubaki we have to take him out and I don't think I can get close to him on my own, can you wield me?" they could hear Liz and patty preparing for the attack.

"Noise 30% resonance rate 92%" their voices sounded dull and bored. "well I did have some scythe training but-" needing no further explanation soul jumped into the air transforming into a scythe Tsubaki caught him "Death cannon" Tsubaki jumped out of the way and unto a low building. Soul's image was shown in the reflection of the scythe "Tsubaki we can't dodge him forever we need to end this in one strike." Tsubaki jumped to another building as the one she was standing on no longer existed thanks to Kid. "But I can't hurt Kid Kun!"

"You don't have to I bet if we take out the guy in the suit kid will snap out of his uncoolness." Tsubaki jumped high into the air. "I can't do this!"

"Tsubaki you have to do this! we have no other choice! Kid will KILL us if we don't do something!" Tsubaki jumped high in the air to avoid another strike. "Now lets come down on that bastard with everything we've got!

"But soul we-"

"We can do this!"

"Alright Soul. Lets go Soul Resonance!"

The marks from enchanted sword mode spread along Tsubaki's skin. Soul turned pitch black and his blade doubled in size growing giant razor sharp knife like edges. 'I can do this' thought Tsubaki

"Shadow Hunter!"


	3. A new team and Maka's woe!

Wow thanks for the reviews glad you liked it I've planned the next 2 chaps after this one but after that I might update a little more slowly

Shadow hunter chapter 3

"Shadow Hunter!" yelled Tsubaki as she swung the menacing black scythe and vertically split there opponent in two. "HAHAHAHAHA!" cackled the two halves of the purple haired man "Quite interesting wasn't expecting that! I'll be seeing you Tsubaki Chan!" the mans body exploded into hundreds of tiny lizards going in every direction. "Ow I'm dizzy!" They looked over to see kid walking over to them and Liz and patty on the ground. "What's going on?" Black star and Maka came from around the building. Maka saw Liz and Patty on the ground and walked over the group worriedly. "Is every one OK me and black star felt Kid's soul resonance and rushed over." She looked at the giant black scythe in Tsubaki's hands. "S-soul?" The scythe turned into a black light and then back into Soul. "yeah?" Black star finally caught up to them "Wow Soul was that you? that was pretty cool but I'm gonna pass god and not even you can stop me!" said black star pumping his fist in the air. Soul smirked "I just keep getting cooler don't I?". "Did you and Tsubaki … Resonate?" Kid spoke up "Only a master and weapon can resonate together two weapons resonating shouldn't be possible." Soul started walking towards the towns exit with Tsubaki right behind him and yelled over his shoulder "Well we did it so lets get back to school and wrap this up.

[Shinigami's office]

"**So your telling me Soul and Tsubaki resonated together?" **

"That's right." Replied Tsubaki.** "Hmm. I'm curious could you resonate for me please?"** Tsubaki nodded "Soul" Soul transformed into his scythe form and landed in Tsubaki's hands Tsubaki closed her eyes and the black marks of the enchanted sword snaked along her skin. "SOUL RESONANCE! SHADOW HUNTER!" Soul grew twice in size changed pitch black and grew sharp serrated edges(am not explaining this again! Memorize that sentence!). Maka's eyes narrowed. **"That's good thank you"** Tsubaki released the resonance. **"I think I've figured out how this is possible. Tsubaki I believe that when you absorbed your brother taking the soul of another weapon made you more sensitive to weapon wave lengths. Also with your brothers ability to control others you're calming Soul's wavelengths to match yours. Id like to See how far this bond goes so for now you two are temporary partners!" **Soul's head peaked out of the scythe "What about Maka and Black Star?" **"Well Maka can go on some missions with Death scythe if she wishes…" **Spirit jumped out from behind a guillotine "now me and My Maka can spend some quality time together!" MAKA CHOP "not a chance dad."** "well umm.. for Black Star Stein said he wanted you for some special training(**No pedo!)**. Tsubaki I'm sending you and soul on a soul collection mission in 2 days make sure you're ready! Dissmissed!"** The group left the room. Shinigami turned to spirit still bleeding on the floor **"Why do you do that when you know how she'll react? Or did she give you brain damage?" **Spirit looked up tears in his eyes(so manly right?) "any thing to get her to talk to me!" **"pathetic!"**

Next chapter: Maka vs. Tsubaki battle for soul! 


	4. Maka vs Tsubaki battle for soul part1

Shadow hunter chapter 4 (part one)

(inside the death room)

After the children left Stein approached lord Death. "Shinigami sama, are you sure it's wise to put Evans and Natasukasa together? Didn't you notice that feeling when they resonated?"

Death watched the group leave the school through his mirror. "I haven't felt a resonance like that in 100 years. I'm curious as to what it will become."

As Stein put on his cloak he looked back at the tall dark figure. "Of your thinking of that event, you should reconsider. Eater is already plagued by madness. This could tear him apart." Stein looked back at the silver haired youth through the mirror, with worry etched across his features.

(outside the room)

"Like hell you could eat more pizza than me! Even if you were a god there is no way you could beat a cool guy like me."

"Ha cocky aren't ya? Its not smart to make challenges you can't back up! Let's go I'm gonna wipe the floor with you!" Tsubaki watched the two bickering friends with a smile on her face. She turned to Maka, "Sounds like there eating pizza tonight. Do you wanna go with them? If not I'm going to go home and barbeque the leftover meat from yesterday. Your welcome to join me if you want."

Maka looked away from Tsubaki and back at the Soul, "as if I want to go see those two eat themselves sick." She chuckled and then looked down at her feet, "actually I'm not feeling too good right now. I'm just going to go home, take a nice shower, and go to bed."

Tsubaki smiled fondly at Maka, "That actually doesn't sound too bad, it's been a long day. I hope you feel better!" Maka waved goodbye and started walking towards her and Soul's home. 'I hope Blackstar doesn't stay out too late'. Tsubaki looked infront of her to find that Soul and Blackstar were already long gone. 'He's with Soul so they should be alright.

Tsubaki turned on the street that would lead her home and began to think of her friends. 'I hope Maka feels better tomorrow. I feel kind of bad, seemed to stiffen up when Shinigami sama announced that Soul and I would be working together. I hope she's not upset with me. I wonder what she and Soul fought about? They've had fights before but never bad enough to interfere with missions, I shouldn't worry about it it's none of my business anyway."

She turned again now on the street with her home. 'I'm even more worried about Kid and the twins though. After the incident they didn't talk much.' Tsubaki remembers the awkward ride home with Soul and Maka on either side of her; Soul was asleep on her shoulder with Maka glaring out the window. Kid, Liz and Patty sitting opposite of them, still looking dazed and confused, Tsubaki could see the guilt in Liz's eyes every time she would look at her.

Tsubaki sighed as she unlocked the door to her home. "Maybe I'll just follow Maka's example and go to sleep. It's been a long and stressing day" Tsubaki was going to the bathroom to take a shower when she felt a cool draft of air hit her back, 'did I leave a window open?' Tsubaki walked back to the front door to find the door open. "I guess I forgot to close the door all the way.' After closing and locking the door she begins to walk back towards the bathroom when she hears knocking at the door. 'Who could it be at this time of night?' Tsubaki turns around and looks through the peep hole to see Soul standing there waiting. It takes her a second to unlock the door. She opens it to find no one on the other side. 'I must be tired' thought Tsubaki as she began to walk towards her bedroom. After getting changed into her pajamas she laid down in her bed thinking of the mission she and Soul were going on. Just before she falls asleep she hears the sink in the bathroom turn on. Deciding to tell Blackstar good night before going to sleep, she gets out of bed and begins to go in the direction of their bathroom. Before she can get to the door she felt water running under the door, onto their hardwood floors.

Tsubaki flung the door open and walked inside "Black Star! How many times have I-" She realized she was yelling to an empty room. The door slammed behind her. She turned around. The door wouldn't open. Looking around she realized she wasn't standing in water. Blood. Black blood. She stood panicked. It was almost ankle deep. She tried to turn the faucet off. The handle broke. There was blood everywhere flying from the faucet into her face. It was shoulder deep. She tried to scream but the cold blood running past her lips muffled her voice. She tried to swim towards the surface for air but the blood was as thick as mud. There was no escape. No air. No hope.


	5. Maka vs Tsubaki battle for Soul part 2

Shadow hunter chapter 4 part 2

Maka turned away from Tsubaki and began to walk home. She wasn't tired or sick. She was furious. Not at Tsubaki, she was mad at Soul. At how willing he was to be used by some one else, to put his life in someone else's hands. It made her blood boil. While all of them fought side by side there is a special relationship reserved for a weapon and their meister. That he had violated.

But that doesn't mean Tsubaki is free of guilt either. No, no, no. While Maka knows that its irrational she can't help but hate. Hate her for how Tsubaki eagerly accepted Soul, hate her for how easily resonance came to them, hate her at how she could feel their souls at ease together. She hated her soul. "I have to fix this" she said to herself " I have to make up with soul because I need him to come back. But more than that he needs me. That's right, I'm doing this for his own good. I'm keeping his insanity in check, without me he'll fall apart. And I can't let that happen. So tomorrow I'll go to Shinigami sama and demand Soul be separated from that woman. Not for me, for him. Because I care about Soul and I won't let her destroy him." with Maka's plan now sorted out she rushes home with new vigor.

She throws open the door to their apartment and after grabbing her pajamas and a clean towel enters the bathroom to run a nice hot bath. Before she starts to undress she looks in the mirror and sees a black smudge on her cheek. She runs some water on her hand and wipes it off but when she looks up again it's even bigger than before. She looks at her hand and realizes her hand is covered in the stuff and prepares to get in the shower to cleanse her self. Her hand feels itchy so she uses her other hand to scratch it. She can feel a tingly sensation running up her arm she looks down to see. Ants. Her entire arm. Covered in ants. Swarming not a single piece of skin left exposed they don't stop. They're at her cheek to she can't see them but she can feel them. Crawling all over her skin, hundreds of ants, thousands of legs leaving no spot untouched. But Maka's better than this. She knows what this is.

Madness. After her panic fades she pushes her soul to it's limits, stretching her wavelength for the first time without the help of soul. She knows that out of her friends she is the weakest but this is her specialty this is her pride. Her anti-magic wavelength the only thing she has of her mothers, besides a stack of post cards in her bedroom. She knows she can't succumb to this she can't fall into the madness. Because soul needs her. She knows she is the one thing that stands between him and insanity.

The insects fly off other and dissolve into mist." Oi mama you okay?" the concerned voice of Soul coming from behind her. Maka felt the strong arms of Soul snake around her from behind. " I heard you screaming" she snuggled back relaxing in his embrace.

" I'm okay now it was just-"

" Madness? I honestly don't see why you resist me" Maka turned and to her horror she wasn't in Souls warm embrace, she was face to face with the not so little red demon. His toothy grin was only made creepier by his magnified size. " You struggle so hard only to yet again fall to me. Why? Why? Why! You struggle against me just like that boy! But you know, and he knows, you need me. You want me you crave the madness that makes you strong. So why? Why do you run from me? But now you have no choice. Not just for my same but for the boy. It's time for me to take the lead!" Maka barely had time to scream as the demon lifted her up into the air "I've been waiting for this!" his large arms held her above his open mouth " bon appetite!" she knew it was an illusion. A fabrication of her mind as she fell into madness. But that didn't make his teeth hurt any less as he mercilessly chomped down. His teeth as knives of pain tearing through her skin, her muscles ripping, her bones breaking. She couldn't even scream as madness devoured her.


	6. Maka vs Tsubaki battle for Soul

Shadow hunter chapter 4 part 4

It started out small. A twitch of the finger here, a twitch there but it wasn't until Soul was twitching on the ground that BlackStar truly felt worried for his friend.

The night started out great pizza, lame jokes, and people glaring at them because of their boisterous laughter. But that stopped fast as soul went crashing to the ground. "Soul! Soul! Get up man what's wrong with you?" BlackStar rushed to his friend's side holding his head up off of the unforgiving tile. He could feel blood on the back of Soul's head. "Shit! Don't worry buddy I'll get you to the hospital just hold on! Don't worry your in the hands of the great BlackStar!" the people in the pizza parlor stared as the insane star jumped through the window with soul I his arms "yahoo!"

"Ow!" I wiped the dust from the back of my skirt as I stood up. I fixed my twin tails as I surveyed my surroundings. All around me was white. Thick, blinding, emptiness. "Maka?" I turned to see my best friend standing a few yards away from me. I ran forward and hugged her "Tsubaki I'm so glad to see you do you know where we are?"

She looked down "I actually just woke up I as hoping you would know." it was then that Maka noticed something small and red making its way towards them. Tsubaki followed Maka's gaze and asked, "What is that?"

Before Maka could reply the demon answered for her "heheehe! I am a manifestation of the madness that lives within Soul Eater. And you two are in his head! Hahaha!" Maka and Tsubaki both took a step back and then

Maka asked "why are we here! Where's Soul?" the demon only smiled back "Soul's soul is currently being ripped in two." he horror on Maka and Tsubaki's faces was evident. "And the cause of that is the two of you! Let me. Explain. When a meister and weapon resonate the weapon reserves a small part of their soul to their meister which grows over time and that is why resonating becomes easier over time. Normally if a weapon has several different meisters it's no problem as they just need to clear a new space, however you!" he points an incriminating finger at Tsubaki. You don't resonate in the normal fashion. Instead of reaching for the small section provided for you your shadow grabs his entire soul to keep it all to yourself regardless of what he wants, you selfish girl. So now for the solution." two scythes identical to soul fell from the sky and planted their blades into the ground near Maka and Tsubaki. " As another resident of this soul I won't allow you to destroy it soooo, hehehe, you two will fight to the death! Hahahaha! Relatively speaking anyway the loser will no longer have any sway on the boy's soul. And if you refuse then Soul will die!"

Back at the hospital BlackStar was forced to wait in the waiting room when he noticed two more bodies being wheeled through. Maka and Tsubaki were both wheeled into the same room that soul was in. And you know it's not a party without the big star right? BlackStar using all the ninja stealth Tsubaki had instilled in him slips through the doors after the nurses. He hid behind a chair and listened to Stein talk to Nygus. "What is going on?"

" It seems that the three of them. Have engaged in some resonance link that is being sustained by soul's madness."

Nygus finished hooking Maka and Tsubaki to their IV's. " So you're saying that they're all trapped in his madness?"

Stein shook his head "it's possible but Maka's done this before, the real problem is what's happening to Soul."

Nygus walked up to stein to get a better look at Soul " can you clue me in doctor I don't have your aptitude for soul perseption."

"His soul is being torn in two. He's trying to resonate with Maka but Tsubaki is pulling him towards her, I suspect that this partners switch is too much for him."

"Well what can we do?"

"We can only observe." Stein says well aware that BlackStar is there despite his ninja stealth but he had more important things to worry about as he looked down on Soul's distressed face.

The little demon disappeared in a red mist but his voice echoed through the air 'if both of you are still standing an hour from now then we will all die as the boys soul is ripped in two!' Tsubaki watches as Maka picks up her scythe. " What are you doing Maka, are you really going to attack me?"

Maka got into her fighting stance "I need to save soul and to do that I have to beat you. Don't worry though, close your eyes and I'll get us out of here quick. Maka took a step further and saw Tsubaki took a step back to pick her scythe up. "What are you what are you doing Tsubaki we need to save Soul! Don't let that demon trick you, even if you can't resonate with Soul anymore it'll be okay after all your still partners with BlackStar."

Tsubaki's expression was dark as she stared Maka down. " I wasn't sure at first, but now, now I'm positive that Soul should stay with me." Maka gave Tsubaki an incredulous look before the betrayal set in. " I know he's your weapon and the two of you are partners, but... I don't care any more. I've spent my entire life smiling politely and trying to please others but just this once I'll stand my ground. I'm not completely sure why but I know I'm right." Tsubaki firmly said raising her own scythe.

Maka was livid " are you serious!" Tsubaki just answered with an unwavering look. " What about BlackStar? What about me! What the fuck gives you the right to take soul! Where do you get off on saying that! Why do you think you even deserve him! It's your fault that he's in danger!" Maka huffed regaining her breath and glared at Tsubaki. " Don't even answer I don't care because after I beat you it won't even matter." Maka and Tsubaki both raised their scythe into the air.

"Soul resonance!"

"Genie hunter-!"

"Shadow hunter!"

In the hospital room the metaphorical shit had hit the fan. Screeching machines went off and about a dozen nurses crowded the room. Nygus turned to Stein " what the hell is going on!"

" This isn't good it appeared they've entered in resonance link but... Not quite."

Nygus turned to him with a panicked look " what do you mean not quite?"

Stein pushed up his glasses as he studied their souls. At this time the curse marks appeared on Tsubaki's skin and on Soul's left arm. " It appears that what is actually happening is that both Maka and Tsubaki are trying to resonate with soul individually but are being blocked by the other. It appears that Maka's link to Soul is stronger and therefore she controls the majority of his soul however there is no doubt that Tsubaki's dark powers give her an advantage over Maka."

Nygus absorbed what stein had said, " Do you mean that the two of hem are subconsciously fighting for soul?"

Stein shook his head " on the contrary it seems to me that both are consciously battling each other likely for dominion over his soul. However, that is however highly doubtfully and unheard of."

Maka and Tsubaki charged at each other, Maka roared with anger while Tsubaki glare in concentration. Maka swung genie hunter horizontally but Tsubaki evaded it by flipping over it and launching a vertical assault with shadow hunter. Maka kept her momentum and swung around to parry Tsubaki's blow with the end of her staff, she then used her scythe to propel her into the air and hit Tsubaki in the face with a flying kick. Tsubaki slid on the ground and as Maka landed she said, " Give up. I'm one of the greatest scythe meisters the DWMA has ever seen. Do you really think you would be a better partner to Soul than me!"

Tsubaki put her hand over her heart as she stood "no. I never thought that I was better than you, but that's not why I'm doing this, I'm doing this because, because, it's something that I have to do!" Maka stared at Tsubaki in disbelief, she was you g to steal Soul am not even give a reason! Maka raised the genie hunter again "kishin hunter!" the scythe blade grew tremendously and it glowed with all the colors of the rainbow.

Maka ran at Tsubaki and slashed horizontally, Tsubaki raised her own blade too block and was thrown backwards by the force of Maka's blow. " Do you really think that you can beat me!"? Maka charged again and slashed vertically, Tsubaki again tried to block and was thrown back. " Do you!" Maka went to charge again but Tsubaki jumped into he air and transformed her arm into chains and sent a long-range shadow hunter strike at Maka. Maka easily deflected it with the blade of her scythe and grabbed Tsubaki's arm-chain to pull her down down. As Tsubaki was falling Maka prepared for a horizontal strike aimd at Tsubaki's neck. As soon as she was in range Maka swung only for Tsubaki to turn her other arm into a short sword to deflect Maka's strike and come in close for the kill. Maka reacted quickly by leaning backwards with the momentum of her scythe and back flipping a few feet away from Tsubaki. Tsubaki wasted no time and went on he offensive rushing at Maka. She aimed a vertical strike downwards intending to rip Maka down the middle with shadow hunter's jagged blade, Maka used her scythe to catch Tsubaki's blade and throw it in the air, she followed up with a diagonal strike with kishin hunter but before the attack could connect Tsubaki went into smoke bomb mode.

Tsubaki was everywhere and could attack from anywhere. Maka wasn't scared, she turned just in time to block the scythe that Tsubaki materialized with her hands around. She smirked at the surprise on Tsubaki's face. " Your body may have been smoke, but it's impossible to hide your soul. Soul perception, another reason I'm better than you. Tsubaki this fight needs to end soon, you know you can't beat me but if you keep fighting like this Soul will die! I'm going to end this in one blow." Maka and Tsubaki both took a step back.

"Kishin hunter!" Maka charged at Tsubaki, Tsubaki only smirked.

"Shadow snare!" Maka was stopped in her tracks as Tsubaki's shadow puppets wrapped around her body. Tsubaki got in a striking position. "Shadow draw!" As Maka came close Tsubaki unleashed a horizontal slice that cleanly separated Maka's head from her body.

Back in the hospital Nygus was glad to see that both Tsubaki and Soul's vital sighs had returned to normal even though Maka saw no change, Stein however knew better 'it seems that whatever internal battle there was it was over now and Tsubaki had won. Soul is now perfectly aligned with Tsubaki while he and Maka's wavelengths are incompatible. But it goes deeper than that, it seems that she is being repulsed by his very soul. This is a very big problem.' stein turned to Nygus " I'll go update Shinigami you stay and monitor their conditions, come get me if anything changes." Stein was about to leave when he stopped. " And you BlackStar come with me." BlackStar fell from his spot in the air ducts in surprise. "Your weapon could be in a lot of trouble."


	7. Aftermath

Shadow Hunter chapter 6

Thank you Dark Gothic Lolita and all the other people that have reviewed or favoriteed my story for your continuing support

I look at the ground and see Maka's body before it fades into the ground. I hear the demon laughing and know this was the out come that he most wanted, one that would bring Soul closer to insanity. It's of no surprise to me. Even someone with as limited soul perception as I can tell that Maka had been what was stopping him from falling into madness, the only support from the overwhelming gravity pulling him down. However that is irrelevant now. I knew from the moment that I held Soul that he should be mine. I knew that this was the past that was the best for him, even if he doesn't want it to be.

The demon appears before me standing with the same sinister smirk from before he left, he's probably here to gloat and explain his 'master plan' but it's irrelevant. Because Soul is mine, and I've got my own demons that are scarier than him. " Well done Ms. Natatsukasa I see that you've eliminated the threat and proved that you are indeed worthy of Soul." His grin widened, god he's creepy. " However now I'm afraid you must take your leave" the world around me begins to fade to black and he last thing I hear is his voice " I look forward to performing with you in the future! Hehehe!"

I'm awake. I stare at the insides of my eyelids for a moment as I listen to my surroundings. The beep of machines, the sound of someone else's breathing 'probably asleep', and the strong smell of disinfectant. Damn it a hospital. However this is the first time in a long time that I'm here because of my injuries. Recently I've only been here because of Black Star doing stupid stunts or to visit Soul or Maka. Maka. I only feel sorry for her not regret at my own actions. At the very least I took her weapon from her but it may be much worse. I could have permanently damaged her soul, or she could be in a coma and not wake for years or maybe not at all.

" I see that you're awake."

I open my eyes to see professor Stein together with Black Star standing at the foot of my bed. I put on my best fake smile and sit up " I'm so glad to see the two of you came to see me in the hospital. But could you tell me what I'm doing here?" I know that they probably know a little bit about what went on within Soul's soul given Steins amazing soul perception but it would be unwise to say anymore than I have to.

" Actually Tsubaki we were hoping that you could tell us."

I suppress a grin, this it the best-case scenario, it doesn't seem like they know anything. But then I realize that Black Star hasn't said anything since the moment I woke up. His face is an impassive mask as if he's looking right through me. Nevertheless I keep up my facade and look back to Stein " Well professor the last thing I remember is that I was in the bathroom when every thing went black." I figured that that was a good enough response seeing as they probably found my body on the bathroom floor and the fact that I don't remember much shouldn't raise suspicion. I just need to keep up this ruse and act completely surprised when I see that Soul and Maka can no longer resonate. It should be easy. After all, lying is one of the many ninja virtues.

I've always been the nicest of the group, offering Black Star my chips or giving patty my seat. But damn it those were my chips and that was my seat! The truth is that I'm not all that nice. The fact that I'm so 'kind' is not because of my selfless nature it's because of my love of peace and quiet. I want my chips but I'll give them to Black Star to shut him up for a moment. Don't get me wrong I don't dislike any of my friends, it's just that their all kind of annoying. The only reason they think I'm so nice is because there was never anything important enough to break the peace.

Until now.

Being a weapon all my life it was strange to reverse my role and wield Soul. Being in charge was different and I'll admit that I liked it more than a little bit. However that isn't what drove me to fight Maka. That's not what drove me to break up the most powerful scythe and meister team since Kami and Spirit. The truth is that I still don't know what it is. What caused me to fight back, to fight for Soul. But I don't care. Because now for better or for worse Soul is mine, and no one can stop me.

However there was one flaw in my flawless ninja plan. Something that I somehow overlooked. Maka. However it seems Maka hadn't forgotten about me. Black Star's face shifted to one of shock as all 110 pounds of Maka leaped from her bed right on top of me. Before I could even react her hands were around my neck. I don't feel sorry for her anymore. She brought one of her hands back and delivered a harsh blow to the side of my face that put me in a daze. When my head stopped swimming I saw Stein pinning Maka to the wall as she struggled against him in order to, I assume, beat the shit out of me like she was doing so well just a second ago. Black Star helped me up while Stein stopped for a second in order to observe the situation. He turned to Maka "I believe I already know the answer but tell me, why are you trying to attack Tsubaki? You two are friends correct? Does this have anything to do with your partner Soul perhaps?" Shit! He knew more than he was letting on! And there's no way Maka won't tell him what happened between the two of us. I have to think of something! I need to get out of here before they bring me to Shinigami! Maka is begging to calm down but still isn't quite capable of coherent speech. I decide to escape using the element of surprise, another on of those ninja virutes. I activate my smoke bomb mode and enter the ventilation shaft as a cloud of smoke while Maka, Stein, and Black Star are still stunned below me. As I'm leaving I can hear Stein shouting at Black Star to find me and bring me back. Hmph As if he could. The ventilation shaft brings me to the roof where I shift into my human form before leaping away into the night.

Wow. I kind of like how this chapter turned out, a little short but I wanted to put something out before you forgot me. I realize I'm making Tsubaki seem really out of character here but please just bear with me I promise the story is gonna pick up soon now that Tsubaki has run away. Im gonna tell you though I might not put out another chapter for a while, I have too many ideas of where I want to take the story from here and I need to narrow it down but when I do I swear ill get another chapter out as soon as possible. Please review if you liked it Xross-33 :3


	8. Tsubaki's resolution and Soul's denial

The dream was different this time. Usually I would burst out of Maka's chest and then look down and see the damage that I had caused. That part was the same but somehow... Not. I was the same looking down at Maka as she screamed wordlessly in anger, the background was the same unimportant whiteness as always, and so that means that it has to be Maka. At first I didn't know what it was, then all of a sudden it hit me! Her eyes! Maka has the most electrifying green eyes that I have ever seen (not that I would ever tell her that). But this Maka, the one that screams as I protrude from her chest, her eyes are brown. They are not exiting or intense like Maka's, these eyes are more calm and caring. But now the question is whose eyes are they? And why am I dreaming about them?

I sprung out of bed to the sounds of screams and alarms wincing with pain as the IV was ripped from my arm. I didn't have the gentlest awakening. I saw Blackstar jump out the window as both stein and Maka turned to look at me. Immediately Maka was on top of me. What? I could feel her tears soaking into my hospital robe. The fuck? I did what any decent human being would and I put my arms around her while my brain was still trying to make sense of the situation. Maka, who fearlessly battled together with me against madness, was crying? What the fuck? Finally my voice caught up with my thoughts and I asked the all-important question, "Maka what happened?"

She looked up at me "soul?"

" I'm here Maka, are you alright?"

"I can't feel your soul"

This isn't how things were supposed to turn out, I think as I jump from roof to roof. I shouldn't be fleeing the academy. I shouldn't be leaving soul. However undesirable this situation is I must persevere. A ninja never gives up. But the real question is: what am I going to do now? The academy stands in the way of my goal and me. After they figure out what I did to Maka and to soul there is no way they would ever forgive me. Not that I need them to. But they have soul. The thing that I now want most. Only one choice then, I stop at the death city limit, "guess I'm going to have to tear it down."

Black star is one of my closest friends, but his empty promises were really wearing thin. He was always promising to "make me a death scythe" yet we never hunted a godamn soul. Not that it mattered; I actually had no interest in becoming one of Shinigami's weapons. I was content with my life. Was. But for some unexplainable reason that wasn't the case anymore. Now I need to be strong, strong enough to take what's mine.

When I consumed my brother I gained more than his power. In my dreams sometimes I relive his memories, see his past. And while it seems that kishin work alone that is not the case.

I could feel every eye on me as I entered the building. On the outside it seemed to be just and odd looking sand dune in the middle of the desert, however on the inside it's a coliseum booming with kishin betting money or souls or fighting in the arena.

Many nervous eyes are on me as I walk through the crowd. Many of the weak kishin seem ready to bolt while the strong ones extended their claws or clenched their fists. I ignore them as I walked up to the bartender who was a rather large kishin that looked like an ordinary middle-aged balding man, but from the neck down he was anything but normal.

I steeled my gaze and looked him in the eye as he unflinchingly looked back at me and said, " What can I do for a student of the reaper?"

I could see everyone in the room tense up fight or flight reflexes beginning to trigger. "Former student, me and the academy are... At odds." I replied with as even of a tone as I could manage.

The bartender walked away from the counter and into a back room behind him. The minute that he was in there was tense. I'm well trained and one of the most versatile weapons in Shinbusen. But with all these kishin around me, it was going to be a short fight. Finally he walked out and behind him he dragged a man probably in his 30's with brown hair who was cuffed and gaged. The bartender took off the man's gag and put him on the counter between the two of us. " Kill him."

Immediately the man started screaming begging for help, " please don't do this! Come on I'm a human being! I have a wife and three kids with the fourth on the way can't you please let me go? I promise I won't tell any body about this, so please, please let me live. I want to live, I'll do anything you want so please, just let me live!"

I looked down at the man. Could I kill him? A husband, a father, could I take this man away from his family? Forever? Murdering this man would make me just like all the monsters that I've been fighting for the last few years. As I stared at him his pleas and cries only grew more intense. Could I really kill this man in cold blood, even of it's for soul?

Of course I can.

All the kishin stood silent as I eternally silenced his squealing with my blade hand. As his soul floated up from his body I grabbed it with my hand. And crushed it. I looked to the bartender, "I would like to enter the coliseum, please."

I looked between stein and Maka in disbelief, "Tsubaki did what!" I couldn't believe this, they were telling me that Tsubaki fought Maka and abandoned Blackstar, for me? " That doesn't even make sense, Tsubaki would never abandon Blackstar and you two are best friends! Tsubaki would never do that!"

I'm pretty sure that Maka's mushy crying moment was over, in fact I think I'm one comment away from getting Maka chopped, I could tell by the way she was yelling in my face, "listen soul, I wouldn't believe it either if she didn't say it to my face! I fought her, to save you! She fought back. " Maka looked down, " and won. Because of that our resonance rate is zero, we no longer have any comparability. We can't even be partners anymore."

I grabbed her arms and pulled her close. I whispered in her ear, "no matter what happens we will always be partners." I could feel her relax into my embrace. "But right now Tsubaki needs us."

"What! How could you say that! She fought me! And abandoned Blackstar! And for some reason she's obsessed with you!"

"That's what I'm talking about! Tsubaki is nothing like the person your describing. What I'm saying is maybe there's some darker forces at work. She could be possessed, or maybe a witch is controlling her, maybe that's not even Tsubaki. But point is there's something wrong and we need to get to the bottom of it."

Maka looked at me warily, I could tell she was still convinced Tsubaki had betrayed us. I just couldn't accept that she had betrayed me.

The coliseum is a place where kishin both weak and strong gather in order to converse and relax and for the right price, purchase human souls. However it does serve another purpose. My brother was never one with a lot of money, but what he did have was strength and for the strong you could fight in the coliseum against other kishin. The fights are to the death and for every hundred battles one the victor is rewarded with a few human souls, and they of course get to eat the souls of the losers which is why I'm here. While I no longer wish to serve the DWMA having the power of a death scythe can only help me in my quest. For soul.

And that's how I found myself in the kishin arena fighting three kishin at once. One would think this would be against the rules; the kishin don't seem to be too big on rules.

The small one flying in the air dove at me with its razor tail poised to strike while the other two moved at me in a pincer attack. I close my eyes and concentrate I hear their foot steps draw near I feel theirs souls closing in on me. "Shadow puppet!" My shadow grows into a three dimensional figure with a small head and long arms as the familiar tattoo of my brother covers my skin. The shadows arms branch out and pierce my targets causing their bodies to dissipate and revealing their bright red souls. I grab each one and swallow it while walking out of the arena. I smiled to my self " that's four souls today"; I walked over to the board to watch Mitch (the bartender) add this win to my other one.

After I left the arena for the day I headed south to a cabin that my brother used to stay in after his matches. All right maybe cabin was being a little too generous; it was a cave with a door, a bed, and a TV. But hey it had cable. I took off my clothes and dropped into my bed letting the events from today play in my mind. I found a kishin arena, earned their trust (sort of), and am now on my way to becoming a death scythe. Feeling happy about today's events I pulled the comforter up to my neck and let sleep consume me.

Meanwhile from Blackstar's pov

I looked down from the top of the academy. It was night now and the search for Tsubaki is still ongoing. Maka and stein are both focusing their soul perception in order to find her, their even flying in Azusa to help. It won't matter though. Tsubaki is good at what she does and they won't ever catch her if she doesn't want them to. It's different for me though, once you've resonated with someone and felt his or her soul in such an intimate way you never forget. I'm sure soul could be a million miles away and Maka could point him out on a map. It's the same for me. I know where Tsubaki is, but do I really want to find her?

I look up at the stars and try to imagine what she could be doing now. I have no idea. I thought I knew Tsubaki but this is nothing like her. Whenever I was lost I would always look to her for advice even though I rarely listened. She was always there listening to me rant. Maybe I should have listened to her more often. Because now I have to wonder, do I know anything about her?

Ha! Now who writes short chapters! Seriously though this probably wont happen again. This is actually two chapter that I wrote at the same time because I just flew to japan and back. Seriously it was awesome! Except for that part where I was flying for 24 hours! But whatever, I wrote how you enjoyed. I love your reviews and please let me know if you like the chapters this way, make sure to let me know of any mistakes I made (writing so much means I get lazy editing :P) if you tell me I mot go back and fix it then re post. Thank you R&R! :3


	9. Convictions

Ch 7 shadow hunter

Soul pov

The horror never stops. I emerge from my partner's body for what must be the millionth time. Each time no matter how prepared I think I am it's always the same feeling of dread. It's been two days since I first noticed her eyes were brown and I haven't noticed any other discrepancies. That makes me wonder. Have her eyes always been brown in here and I just never noticed?

I can tell that my time here is coming to a close as I awake in the real world so I look over at her one more time, her long thin legs, her teeny tiny frame, her chocolate brown eyes and her jet black hair.

It was nice waking up in my own bed again. I was released from the hospital last night and after walking home with Maka I passed out on my bed in my street clothes. I noticed that my shoes were off and I was under the blankets. Guess I have to say thanks to Maka now. I hate owing her.

I get out the shower and am immediately greeted by the smell of bacon, a scent no mere mortal can over come. I follow my nose to find Maka in the kitchen spatula in hand cooking up some deliciousness. I walk over and open the fridge to poor myself some milk. I sneak up behind her and ask.

"Need any help with breakfast Maka?" I was kind of hoping to scare her but she didn't even flinch.

"Not really but could you set the table? Oh and do you want toast?"

"Yeah, thanks" I get placemats from the drawer and place them on the table along with forks before Maka sets down our plates. We both sit down and start to eat our breakfast.

The silence at first is a little awkward, just the sound of our forks scraping our plates. After a while Maka chimes in trying to dissolve the tense atmosphere.

"So I was watching the news earlier and it said that the chance of rain for this week is-"

"I can't do this Maka!" I stand up and slam my hand on the wall feeling the stress of the last two days wash over me in one violent wave. "What are we doing? Sitting down and eating fucking bacon and eggs, talking about the god damn weather! We can't resonate and were just going to sit down and pretend like everything's O.K! Maybe you can but I-"

"Do you think it's any easier for me!" now Maka was up glaring right into my eyes, poking her finger into my chest. " How do you think I feel huh? Did you think I forgot what's going on? I'm not fucking stupid Soul! We're sitting here eating fucking breakfast, while that bitch Tsubaki is god knows where probably fucking laughing at us! Do you think I want to be here, doing- this?" her hand dropped to her side and she looked down as tears started to fall from her eyes. "Soul I just-"

I put my arms around her feeling like a dick for making her cry. 'Losing control of my emotions, not cool'. I felt her body shake as she cried into my chest, "I know Maka. Everything's going to be alright, we're going to fix what's wrong with our wavelengths and then were going to save Tsubaki-"

She pushed off of me and I took a step back as she glared me down. "What the fuck is wrong with you? You seem so convinced that she needs saving even though she's the one who did this to us! I felt her soul as she was destroying us! That was her one hundred percent Tsubaki no one else! There was no witch influence, no interference it was all her! Why can't you accept that? Everyone else realizes the monster that she is! Even Blackstar won't defend her! But you why do you?"

"Because she's our friend Maka!"

She shook her head, "No she was never our friend! This is her true self!" Maka put on her coat and opened the door "and I'm going to find her. Then I'm going to make her pay for what she did to us!" Maka slammed the door behind her.

That left me alone in the house with my thoughts. Why am I defending her? Every one else, even her own meister is convinced she's evil. But some how I can feel it, deep down in my soul I can tell that her intentions aren't evil. It is true that I never truly believed that I needed to save her from some witch. But now I have a bigger problem; now I need to save her from Maka.

Tsubaki pov

Eighteen. I walked out of the coliseum after consuming my eighteenth kishin soul. The other kishin gave me wide berth as I walked up to my seat at the bar. In the short time that I've been here I have earned quite the reputation. It's funny actually, the fact that I never mentioned me and Soul's scythe technique and they started calling me the 'shadow hunter'. I'm not complaining though it's nice to be feared. At least now there are no more bullshit arena matches. I think I earned their respect after beating my tenth. I smirked recalling that battle,

Flashback

What the hell! I dodged to the right narrowly avoiding being decapitated. How on earth is this fare! I looked up at my behemoth of an opponent, it had to be at least twenty feet tall which leaves me to wonder, how did they even get him in here? Regardless I have to fight him. I know that if I back down the kishin will take it as a sign of weakness and swarm me. Only one option then, I'll rip it apart!

As the next gargantuan fist descends upon me instead of dodge I jump and land on top of it. I then run up on to its shoulder. It reaches to grab me with its other arm but before the big meaty fingers can close around me I transform my arm into chain scythe mode, dig it into his shoulder and leap off. The momentum of my swing brought me back up and on his other hand that was working on dislodging my blade. I did another swing now tying his arm to his shoulder. I land on the ground and see this giant kishin desperately trying to untangle itself.

By now the kishin have all seen my shadow technique so this may be the only chance I have to power up without him trying to stop me. I pull my arm back yanking the beast off of his feet bringing him face down in at my feet. I retracted my kusarigama and turned my hand back to normal. I picked up my resonance rate and felt the familiar markings snake their way across my skin I smirked as I felt my power peak.

I summoned my shadow puppet but to my surprise instead of one I had two. That's interesting, my smirk grew into a grin I wonderd: if Blackstar knew how much stronger consuming souls would make me would he have tried harder? The kishin finally pushed itself to its feet and as soon as it saw my puppets he decided it was time to stop playing around. So did I.

He brought both of his hands up together in order to I assume crush me. Not that I would give him the chance. As soon as his hands came together one of my shadow puppets appeared next to him and snaked up the kishin's body holding it in place. My other puppet reshaped itself into a familiar looking black scythe with razor edges, a reminder of why I'm doing this.

I grasped the scythe staff in my hands and slowly walked up to the kishin, it could only watch as I approached. Normally this would be the end, I would finish this with one decisive strike. But I was tired of these bullshit matchups. Before this big guy were three kishin disguised as one, and before them two invisible kishin. This is a matter of respect, which I had none of here, but I knew what kishin do respect; violence.

I raise my scythe "You think you can bully me into leaving!" I slice it's leg in half at the shin. " Do you think you can scare me!" his other leg. He falls to his knees. The arena is deadly silent as all the kishin have their eyes on me. " If you think that I'm going to run away your wrong!" I cut his body off at the waist, jumping back so that his face lands at my feet. I jump on his back and raise my scythe a final time "Because I'm not going anywhere!" after I bring my scythe down his body vanishes revealing his bright red soul. I catch it as I fall to the ground. After I swallow it I hear them, all of them, cheering.

"Sha-dow Hun-ter!"

"Sha-dow Hun-ter!"

"Sha-dow Hun-ter!"

Flashback end

I sit down as Mitch poures me my drink. He takes out a bottle of wine and poures me a glass. Even though I no longer live by deaths rules I still don't drink, I take a sip of the grape juice in my cup. Mitch and I have come to an understanding, I want to get stronger to further my own goals and once he understood that I had no intention of returning to destroy this establishment he stopped seeing me as one of deaths dogs and more like one of them. He knows that my survival here is dependent on the respect that I command and I can only go as far as it will let me. So instead of letting my enemies see me drinking grape juice he helps me uphold my reputation.

He leans on the counter, "That was a nice fight hunter."

I smirk, " It will take a lot more than a couple of blades to off me."

He pours more drink into my glass, " Hoho! Now that I can see! But tell me lass, while it seems obvious that you're no longer working with the reaper what are you doing here? It's obvious that you want to be stronger but what exactly are you planning to do?"

I lean in close so that only he can hear me. " There is... Something I want, and the Reeaper will do anything to stop me from getting it."

The smirk on his face grew " So what are you going to do about it?"

I push my stool back and set the payment for my drink on the counter. As I'm walking away I call over my shoulder "Whatever it takes!"

Blackstar pov

My training with Stein has changed completely in its nature. Before it was about preparing me to handle Tsubaki's blade. And now its about learning to fight on my own. Stein told me that with my pushy nature there are very few weapons that will be able to resonate with me successfully. But I don't care. Tsubaki was the only weapon I ever wanted, and she abandoned me. We were, friends, partners, roommates! And then she turns around and betrays all of that! Soul keeps trying to make excuses for her but I know, I know that Tsubaki is the one doing this. She's not so weak that someone can control her so easily. And I'm going to make her pay. No matter the cost.


	10. Means to an end

Shadow hunter 10

Hey it's been a while since I updated and that is mostly because of school work but since it's almost Christmas I decided to give you a present :3

Ok so there are a couple things that I haven't specified so I'll do that right now.

The story is taking place in the Manga:

Meaning if you havn't read these may be spoilers but it's important for a couple reasons: 1 Soul is a Death scythe

2 Arachne is already dead

3 Chrona is still at large.

4 and finally Both Black Star and Kid are significantly stronger than they were in the anime

So with that in mind I hope you enjoy this chapter :D

Tsubaki pov

Over the last two weeks I have slain 99 kishin and devoured their souls. Over this time I've discovered that between kishin my reputation has spread far and wide. Kishin come from all over to witness the shadow hunter, to see the weapon that fights like a kishin. It's led to not only respect but also surprisingly a level of reverence that transcends fear. I've been called the queen of kishin. It's not a title I that matters much to me but if it helps me reach my goal then I'll do anything. Anything. And that brings me to where I currently stand; in front of the home of Masamune, and his little witch. The last soul I need to make Soul mine.

Maka pov

I sigh me and Soul have been in and out of fighting all week. He just doesn't want to accept that Tsubaki betrayed us. He's a nice person, which is one of my favorite things about him, but does he have to be so damn naive?

I take another sip of my latte while sitting in the death city cafe. One of my favorite haunts ever since my home became a battleground. I feel tired; anyone who looks at me could see the dark rings under my eyes and tell that I haven't slept in days, but how could I knowing that Tsubaki is out there getting stronger while I sit here helpless. Well not completely helpless. Soul is a great weapon but even without him I'm still the best scythe meister around. After I realized that Soul and I wouldn't be working together until I can fix this I asked Stein and he brought me one of the ancient weapons. Before magical weapons people used weapons without souls, weapons that were made of metal or wood. There aren't many of them left but the few that do exist can be found on the walls of the DWMA. Between searching for Tsubaki and practicing with my temporary scythe I haven't slept all week. But soon it's all going to pay off. It'll all be worth it when I split that traitor's head in two.

Black Star pov.

Black Star suddenly sits up. 'I found her. Just now I felt her soul pulse with energy. I slip on my shoes as I head for the door. Now I'm gonna get some answers!' He slips on his shoes and jumps out the window.

Soul pov.

I walk through the streets, hands in my pockets, eyes downcast. The last week has been hard for me. Things between Maka and I have been... Tense. We used to have fights every day and now I never see her. I'm actually starting to miss the fighting. But the truth is, I'm feeling broken. I'm a weapon that can't be used, last week Stein and I tried to resonate and even he couldn't. What good is a weapon that can't be used by anyone? Well there is one person, but she's the cause of all my problems. Yet even knowing that I can't bring myself to hate her.

As I turn the corner to my home I see Maka and Black Star standing there talking furiously. I stand in the shadows curious as to what they're doing. They shake hands. I move a little bit closer to hear what they're saying. I hear Maka say, "ready Black Star?" he nods, then at the same time they say "resonance link!"

What the hell are they doing? I see the two wings that I've only seen coming out of me when Maka and I fly together. She takes Black Star's hand and flies away.

Now that I'm alone, I leave the shadows and sit on my bike. " Has Maka always been able to fly without me? Where the hell are they going? If they had a mission then Death would have arranged for their travel, but the fact that they seemingly did this in secret means that it isn't official business, it's personal." after a second it dawns on me "oh crap it's Tsubaki! If they didn't talk to anyone about it, that meant they're going to… I have to stop them!" I start up my bike and race in the direction I saw them go.

Stein pov

"Lord death I've found the information you've asked for." Stien says as he enters the death room.

The reaper replies almost impatiently, "and?"

" Your hunch was correct, the names have changed many times but the Evans family does indeed descend from the Arthur clan. If I may ask, how is Soul's lineage important in this situation?"

Lord death sighed, "Stien let me tell you the story of the first magic weapon, Excalibur. Excalibur was a magic tool created by Eibon. It was a part of a two-piece set; Excalibur the ultimate weapon combined with the philosophers stone to limit its output energy. For you see Excalibur was too powerful for its own good. The magic within the weapon exerted more power than its material could handle. So not wanting his creation to be destroyed Eibon created the philosophers stone, an item whose sole purpose was to contain the power of Excalibur. One day a boy with an extremely powerful soul stumbled upon the sword. He was able to pull the sword out of he stone but when he did its power was unleashed. With the sword on the verge of critical meltdown the philosophers stone's emergency protocols kicked in. Because the boy's soul usurped the power of the stone the stone judged him to be a more suitable container and sealed Excalibur's powers within him. The sword's physical body became one with the boy and he became the first magical weapon. The boy's name was Arthur, and his descendants adopted this as their surname before, as you know eventually changing it."

After a brief pause stein speaks, " Do you believe that Excalibur's powers have passed on to soul?"

Death seems to think for a second before finally answering, "no. However there is another problem" death paused briefly before continuing. "The Natatsukasa and Arthurs have a bit of history between them.

We sought the boy out for his powers, thinking that he might want to join our fight against the witches. However what we found was an inexperienced boy who was unable to control his own powers. Seeing this Asura and I paid him no mind and quickly returned to the fight. Eibon while curious as to the fate of his weapon, was too deep into developing brew to pay attention to anything else. One of my followers however, was a woman named Natatsukasa who took a particular interest in the boy. She had the unique ability to absorb the powers of others into herself and was one of the more powerful members of my troupe. She used her ability to seal part of Arthur's powers in herself so that he could learn to control them better.

The two of them were very close, always choosing to fight with each other, more often than not with Natatsukasa wielding Arthur, but while absorbing his powers she too gained the ability to become a weapon and he could fight wielding her. They were the best of friends, and he would often visit her home and spend time with her family, later he would even become the godfather of her first child. However the happy times were not meant to last forever. While Natatsukasa was powerful her soul was not as strong as Arthur's and the power of Excalibur within her was too much to bear. She fell very ill and eventually died from his power. While the family didn't blame Arthur, he blamed himself and was too ashamed to ever visit there home again.

Arthur grew up to have a wife and family, but the power of Excalibur kept him from aging. He saw his children and grandchildren be born, grow old, and die. He began to slowly lose his mind as time lost him, and he became more myth than reality. "

Stein looked up shocked by death's story. " Does that mean that the Excalibur that we know today is the same boy?" death only nodded in confirmation. "Then what happened to his appearance?"

Death shook his head "the only one that could tell you that has probably long forgotten. However that was not the point of this story. I would like to amend my answer to your previous question. I do believe that the powers of Excalibur have been passed onto soul. However I don't believe that he can activate them by himself."

A look of realization came upon Stein's face "you believe Tsubaki is the key?"

Death began walking towards his mirror, " the fact that all Natatsukasa are weapons means the her family still carries Excalibur's power so if the two were able to resonate and pull out Soul's latent potential, the result could be ...spectacular."

Tsubaki pov

Mifune was strong, very strong. But not strong enough. As soon as he saw me he could tell what I was here for. We had been fighting for about 20 minutes and I could see that I was wearing him down. Of his 100 swords about 30 of them still remain. The rest are smashed or shattered at our feet. I hold my side; while I may be winning the fight had not been easy. My power surpasses Mifune's so it quickly became a battle of speed, which has turned into a war of attrition.

"Where is black star?" Mifune's asks. I remain quiet. As I create a shadow scythe to block his sword. "Why are you here?" he swings his sword and I catch it with my scythe and attempt to get in close but he jumps back too fast for me and grabs another two swords.

"I'm here because you have something I need." I charge at him and swing my scythe he blocks me with one sword and my shadow puppet with another, then he kicks up a sword on the ground that nicks me across the forehead. I take advantage of his stance and push harder while his leg is in the air and knock him off balance. My shadow puppet constricts him and holds him in the air knocking the sword from his hand.

He struggles to move before eventually giving up, "you have defeated me, I can see in your eyes that you have chosen the path of the demon. Why?"

"Because it was necessary to achieve my goals" I begin to walk past him, towards the house. "Just like your death."

As I walk past him my shadow puppet constricts and I hear a satisfying crack. Now that he's out of the way I can move on to my real goal. I allow my powers to recede as I step inside the small home to find my prize. I stand quiet and listen. I hear the shuffle of footsteps behind me. I turn to see the little witch I came for running out the door.

I take my time going after her and stand as she kneels over her former caretaker. Her face is in tears and I can't help but feel bad. I've done a lot of terrible things. I see her face streaming with tears as she holds Mifune's broken body and decide to allow her a moment to mourn. Considering what's about to happen to her it's the least I can do. I think as I walk towards her.

Black Star pov

I'm hanging from Maka's grasp as I focus all of my energy on Tsubaki's soul. I felt it pulse this morning and since then it's only become more erratic. The closer we get the more unsure of this I get. Tsubaki needs to be punished and Maka deserves her revenge, but while what Tsubaki did was wrong she would have never killed Maka or any of our other friends. Right?

I signal Maka towards a building that I feel Tsubaki's presence in. We decide to land about 20 or so yards away so that Tsubaki doesn't see us and run.

I hide behind a sand dune and look over to Maka who is shaking in anticipation. I look over the dune to see Tsubaki standing looking down at something, but I can't see what. I signal Maka to move closer and we sprint and duck behind another sand dune about 10 yards from Tsubaki. A peek over to see if she's noticed us and she still seems focused on what she's doing. She raises one arm and I look to she what she's looking at and see. Angela!

I grab Maka's hand and sprint forward "Tsubaki no!" but I was too late Tsubaki's arm transforms into a chain scythe and decapitates Angela. Afterward she turns to look at me, surprised, before smirking. Now that I'm standing I can see that the thing Angela was crying over was the body of Mifune. I kneel over Angela's body, tears running down my face as I see her soul floating up. Tsubaki's hand shoots out from 10 feet away and grabs it. I look at Tsubaki "how could you? They were our friends Tsubaki? We would come here and play with Angela and drink tea with Mifune! Didn't that mean anything to you!"

She looks at Angela's soul for a second before she answers me, "those were fun times but it's irrelevant now those times meant a lot to me but currently I have something that means more."

I look over to see Maka seething gripping her scythe with both hands. I open my mouth to say something to Tsubaki but Maka cuts me off. "Give up Black Star! She's beyond saving. Look at this she just murdered two of her friends in cold blood and she isn't even sorry! I don't event think she knows what she did is wrong. She wants Soul. And she'll do anything to get him. She'll even kill us." I look to Maka wanting to refute her point but I know that she's right. I look and see Tsubaki's eyes, what used to be warm brown was now icy blackness. I wipe the tears from my eyes and take up my fighting stance.

Tsubaki pov

I have no ill will towards Black Star or Maka but because of my purposes they and the entire DWMA have become enemies of mine. I see Black Star slip into his stance and Maka readies her crude scythe. But before I deal with my problems I should first enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Before Maka or Star can stop me I raise Angela's soul it the air and swallow it whole. I suppose it's not their fault they didn't know to stop me; they had no idea that I had been spending my time collecting 99 kishin souls. But they were about to find out.

I could feel the energy of her soul join mine and it was like nothing I had ever felt. My soul was stretching in an almost painful way. I close my eyes and fell to the ground and stayed there until the feeling subsided. I looked up to see both Black Star's and Maka's mouths agape. I stood and stretched my limbs to regain my feeling. Finally Maka spoke," What are you?"

I grinned and focused my energy to invoke enchanted sword mode. I answered her as I felt the lines of darkness streak across my skin. Surprisingly the cut on my face stops hurting and disappears all together. "A death scythe."

Did you like it? If you did please let me know I love your reviews 3 and if you have any complaints , you should still review! This chapter is the start of the next arc that should span about 3 or 4 chapters(depends how creative I am). And I also hope my explanation involving the Natatsukasa and the Evans was acceptable. It was one of the few parts of the story that I had set up before and I really hope you liked it. As allways R&R :3


	11. Tsubaki's power and Soul's decision

Shadow hunter 11

Tsubaki pov

A death scythe. After weeks of hard work hunting souls I have finally reached my goal. I look up at Black Star and Maka standing there mouths agape. Finally Maka straightened up and got into her fighting stance. "Is that what all of this is about Tsubaki? You just killed a man and an innocent little girl for what? Power? You are fucking insane!" and with that Maka charged me.

I could have dodged; Maka's blow was filled with rage and poorly guided. I can see her frustration from recent weeks in her features. But I didn't need too, I wanted to show her just how superior I am. Without even transforming my arm I stop her blade with my hand. She looks stunned. I smirk. Before she knows what's happening she's on the ground next to Black Star and her weapon is in my hand. I look down on her with contempt. "You say that I'm crazy for pursuing power. That is the insult of someone who is too weak to grab power for themself. I have the power to protect my ideals and fight for what I want. Unfortunately for you, you just so happen to have what I want." I throw her scythe back to her and look to Black Star. "I've harmed your friend and am trying to steal another. Can you protect them? I became your partner because I was persuaded by the greatness you always thought you would achieve. You'll surpass the gods' right? So tell me, was that all talk?"

I stretch my fingers as Black Star stands up and we glare into each others eyes for while. His determination and foolish bravery are what drove me to him. At first it was because I figured that someone as fearless as him would surely make me into a death scythe. But later even after I realized that he had no intention of hunting souls I stayed with him because of his confidence. He's always been confidant in himself, never wavering, never backing down. But right now I look at him and I see only doubt.

Before he can blink I'm already in front of him. I sweep his legs out from under him and pin him to the ground. "What's wrong with you Black Star? Have you lost your courage?" I jumped back as black star tried to throw me off of him.

"Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the great Black Star! And I'm the one who's going to kick your ass! For Soul, Maka, Mifune, and Angela! I'll make you pay for your crimes!" I smirk, that's the Black Star I know, Always in way over his head.

I stretch my arms and crack my wrists. "Looks like you finally decided to grow a pair. It's a good thing because I want to test my new powers. Although two weapon less meisters my not offer a challenge. It's better than one meister who can't control her temper and another who's lost his fire." After finishing my stretching I slip back into a comfortable stance and wait for them to make their move.

Black star goes and helps Maka up and whispers something in her ear. She grins at him and picks up her scythe and gets in her stance. How stupid, they think that with a good plan they can beat me? Do they even realize that the only reason their still standing is to be my punching bags? Either way I figure that I've given them enough time to get ready.

I hold my right fist out and focus on my soul wavelength. The familiar black markings of my brother snake across my body. My shadow moves from the ground into my hand and becomes my sword. Maka and Black Star look surprised. Why don't I show them the full extent of my power?

I dash towards star with my sword held low, when I get close I slash horizontally and he steps back in time to avoid me, from my right Maka swings her scythe towards me and I move my sword in time to parry her blow. I turn to Maka and while she's still stunned I raise my sword over my head and bring it down, before it can hit her though I see Black Star coming at me with a flying kick and am forced to abandon my attack and jump away.

I land about fifteen feet from them and watch them high five. How pointless they're celebrating having fending me off? What are they gonna do throw a party every time they block me? Someone like her is no good for Soul. I smirk at them, "I was the most feared person to ever enter the kishin arena. Let me show you why." I let go of the enchanted blade and let my favorite weapon form, shadow hunter. Before I became a death scythe my shadow scythe was only a pale imitation of Soul's shadow hunter. But now it's his spitting image, the exact same size with the spikes in just the right place I could feel it's weight perfectly balanced. I spun it around two times experimentally. This is how I was born to fight. It makes me desire Soul even more.

I dash towards Maka and Black Star feeling lighter than ever, my feet barely touching the ground. I stop in front of Maka and swing my scythe diagonally, she raises her scythe to block but my scythe cuts through her blade like butter. She falls to the ground at the force of my blow and I raise my blade for the final blow.

Before I can even begin my backswing Black Star tackles me to the ground. I try to struggle but even though I'm a death scythe, Black Star is still physically stronger than me. He pulls his arm back and punches me across the jaw. It leaves a bruise but I can only feel it briefly before it heals. That's it, it cannot end here! I did not become a traitor, go to the arena kill ninety nine kishin, and become a death scythe, just so I could fall here, to Black Star! I close my eyes and force my soul wavelength out and feel Black Star fall of me. I open my eyes and see only the sky above me. I feel the wind in my hair. I look down and see the ground twenty feet below me with Maka and Black Star staring at me.

I'm flying, yet for some reason I don't freak out. I look to my sides and see two giant golden wings made from my soul wavelength. They look like spiky cartoon wings yet somehow they're keeping me aloft. I fly around a bit and it feels completely natural. Like I was born to fly and just didn't know.

Now empowered by my new ability I was preparing to swoop back down and finish Maka along with Black Star, before I feel a flash of a soul wavelength behind me. I roll to the left just in time to see the purple shot whiz past me. "It's been a while hasn't it Tsubaki? Although this time I'll attack you of my own volition."

I turn around, my eyes narrowing as I face my new enemy. "kid."

[Soul pov]

I can feel her. As I watch Tsubaki soar into the sky and see her wings, I can feel her soul pulse in time with my own. And it fills me with some foreign feeling. I came here out of concern for her and right now I feel closer to her than ever before. Even when she was fighting with Maka and Black Star I found myself caring more about Tsubaki's well being more than either of theirs.

Kid doesn't seem to see me, that's good so I can remain hidden for when I'm needed. Even from down here I can see the looks on their faces. I can tell that at least one of them won't leave here alive. From here I can jump in and help when I'm needed. But right now I'm still not sure who to help.

[Tsubaki pov]

While flying feels natural to me this dog fight is something new entirely. Because we're so high up I can't utilize any shadows except the scythe in my hand and very quickly this is becoming a one sided fight.

I try to will my self faster as I attempt to dodge the hail of bullets from the kid. I dive down 90 degrees hoping to lose him but as I look back he's right on my tail. I use one final burst of soul energy to slow my self down so that I can land on the ground. While flying is natural to me, it's the ground that's filled with shadow. I think it's time to put my new powers to the test.

I raise my scythe above me as kid dashes at me from above; I'd say he's about ten seconds away. I start gathering shadows into my scythe, expanding my soul wavelength to pull in more shadows. eight, my scythe grows in size and I can feel it strengthen, it pulses as if it has its own soul, it reminds me of Soul. five, I stop gathering to let the power settle. This isn't just a scythe this is my soul. All of my power pooled into one attack. two...one,...zero! As soon as Kid is in range I swing putting my entire soul into the attack, he raises Liz and Patty to block but after my attack he still flies several feet away rolling on the ground.

I feel spent. My shadow scythe dissipates as I slowly walk over to Kid. I feel the lines from enchanted sword mode recede. That's fine; I won't need it to finish him. I stand in front of his body; he lays in the fetal position still clutching Liz and Patty. I can still feel his soul; he may be strong but I'm stronger. I turn my hand into chain scythe mode and raise my arm. There are very few who can claim to have killed a shinigami.

[Soul]

I hide behind a rock about thirty yards away from Kid and Tsubaki as she prepares to kill him. I don't want Kid to die but I can't stand against Tsubaki. Even though I know that I wouldn't be able to do anything against her I still try to think of how I can stop her. But every time I come up with a plan I instantly shut it down. For some reason I can't stand against her.

She raises her hand to end Kid when all of a sudden she goes flying backwards towards where I am. Kid slowly rises from his crater and walks towards her, Liz and Patty are in executioner mode. From where I am I can see him standing over Tsubaki, he puts his foot on her chest and I'm close enough to hear her grunt. I can hear him talk, "How arrogant. You become a death scythe and what's the first thing you do? Pick a fight with the son of death. And if that weren't enough you actually believed you would win? You thought your little shadow scythe could beat me? You thought you could kill me? That someone as unordered, unbalanced, and asymmetrical as you could best me? Well think again. I'm a god! And you are trash. Someone who's betrayed her friends. I hope you find no comfort in death."

He raises his weapons in her face and begins to charge up energy. "I'm making this one extra powerful, to ensure that there's nothing left of you, you unsymmetrical waste of space!"

I can feel it from here. I've always been bad at sensing soul wavelengths but even I can feel the power Kid is packing into this death cannon. He's going to kill Tsubaki. And before I realize it, I'm sprinting. I'm going to save her. Kid notices me and looks up and I see Maka and Black Star to my right looking equally as shocked. Kid seems to realize what I'm doing and turns back to Tsubaki. I can see him begin to call out his attack, I'm too late. "Dea-" and then everything stops.

To be more exact everything but me. I continue running at top speed while everything else looks as if it's moving in slow motion. I reach Kid and shoulder tackle him off of Tsubaki. I can see his death cannon releasing into the air at super slow motion. I go over to Tsubaki and stand over her. Not two feet away from me is the woman who ruined my life. She destroyed my partnership and attacked my meister. Yet when I look at her don't feel hate or anger. I feel protective; I want to keep her safe in the same way I used to feel about Maka. I close my eyes at the confusing emotion, and everything around me returns to normal speed. "-th cannon!" Kid's cannons shoots uselessly in the air.

"Soul? Are you okay?" I turn and see Maka call out to me with concern in her voice as she jogs up to us.

"Soul. Did you come for me?" asks a beat up looking Tsubaki from he ground. I look back and fourth between the two. Not knowing who to answer. Tsubaki holds out her hand looking at me expectantly.

Maka stops a few feet away from us looking shocked, "Soul what are you doing here? It's okay Soul move out of the way and I'll take care of her." I'm still unsure of my feelings. I know I should let Maka 'take care' of Tsubaki but for some reason I don't want to. I reject the thought as if its the vilest thought I could have, and take Tsubaki's hand. I pull her up from the ground and continue holding it. "Soul?" Maka calls out looking confused, of course she's confused, I don't even know what I'm doing.

I finally find my voice, "I'm sorry Maka. I don't know why but. I'm going with Tsubaki"

[Tsubaki]

I've won. I may have lost the battle but I have won the war. Soul is mine. I'm not sure why but I don't care. And he's with me by choice, which is an extra bonus. When I would think about getting Soul I always imagined it would be by force, which I don't mind but this is much easier. The best part about it is seeing the look on Maka's face. I don't know when but sometime I had begun to hate Maka. Perhaps it was jealousy over how she's had Soul while I've been out killing kishin. Putting the past aside, Soul is mine now; and I never intend to let him go.

[Maka]

I see soul, my Soul, transform into scythe mode with Tsubaki holding him. Holding him the way I want to, the way I would be if it weren't for her. I can only watch as the enchanted sword marks appear on her skin. Her wounds close and Soul turns into her bastardized form of the witch hunter. Giant wings made of her soul wavelength appear and then she's gone. It was almost too fast to see. She glowed golden like Soul did when he tackled kid, and then she zipped away in a flash of light.

It felt familiar. Their soul wavelength was different from the first time I saw their shadow resonance. It actually reminds me of Hiro. Now that I think about it her wings were similar to Hiro's and that glow was the same color as... Excalibur? It can't be. But at the same time what else could it be? Somehow the two of them have inherited some of Excalibur's power. I put my hand on my chin to think about it.

Black Star and Kid both walk up to me. Kid is the first to talk, "What the hell was that? I was about to finish this when Soul of all people stops me?" he rubs his jaw. "He packs quite a punch too, just how did he move that fast?"

Black Star chimes in, "and just what the hell was up with Tsubaki? She became a death scythe and now she can fly! Something's not right here." He looks over to me, "Do you have any idea what's going on Maka? What do we do?"

I nod and they both look over at me expectantly. "I think I know where there power originated from. But we'll need to speak to lord death about it. And also I need a new weapon. The look in Soul's eyes. I don't think he wants this. When I looked at him I could tell he was just as confused as I was. We have to help him."

Black star put his hand on my shoulder, "of course were going to help him! But how?"

I look to Kid and Black Star with conviction in my eyes. " You may not like it, but were going to have to pay a visit to an old friend of yours."

Well what did you think? Luckily for you I was stuck on a long ass car ride and managed to finish it :3 for the fans of Something Un ill just say that I'm working on the next chapter and leave it at that.

As always reviews are appreciated, thanks for reading


	12. Maka's resolution and Soul's dependance

Shadow hunter 12

[In the death room]

Maka looks up at lord death who towers above her, Black Star is at her side and kid is behind his father with spirit standing near death's right hand. She clears her throat and asks what she came here to ask, "Please tell us what you know about soul and Tsubaki." Maka bows her head low as she asks.

"Maka chan, while I realize that your purpose was noble, you left the city without permission in order to pursue Tsubaki, which is what led soul to her and has caused our current predicament. Your judgments are rash and illogical. I will not tell you anything regarding Mr. Evans or Ms. Natatsukasa. Both of them are now regarded as criminals of death city. Tsubaki is charged with murder and treason, and soul with aiding a felon. Both will be dealt with by the proper authorities, and a team has already been dispatched."

She gasps, "but lord death!"

Spirit speaks up, "I'm sorry Maka but Shinigami sama is right. We tried letting you do things your way but this has been proven to be beyond your capabilities. Why don't you just go home and rest?

Maka's glare is piercing, "your doing it again! Your abandoning me just like you did mama!" she screams at him as tears stream down her face. "I thought you said you loved me! I wonder if this is how mama felt when she realized that you were lying to her as well?"

"Oh come on Maka you know that's not how it is!" Spirit reaches out to his daughter.

Maka slaps his hand away as she step back. "No! I'm not going to let you fail me again! Soul needs me and you're in my way!" she runs out of the room tears streaming down her face.

Spirit makes a motion to go after her but death puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head.

Death turns to other guest of his room. "So Black Star, what do you plan to do."

He stands quiet for a moment before looking at death with steel in his gaze. "Maka and Soul are my best friends and Tsubaki is my responsibility. I don't understand how you can expect me to just sit by and let this happen. 'They'll be dealt with by the authorities'? What kind of bullshit is that! Why won't you let us go after them? With Kid's help I know we can defeat them! We can save Soul and make Maka happy again! Isn't that what we all want?" he looks specifically at spirit, "Isn't that what you want."

Spirit looks like he's about to answer before looking at his feet. Death retorts in a slightly more serious voice, "Of course that's what we all want. But you seem to be suffering under the illusion that you're the best person to make that happen. I've dispatched professors' Stein, and Marie to apprehend them. Soul and Tsubaki have powers that you can't comprehend. You are a great meister however without a weapon you are no match for them. As you should know based in your recent defeat. I advise you to go home and wait for further orders. Neither you nor Maka are permitted to exit the city at this time. I suggest you use this as a vacation of sorts."

Black Star shifts his glare to Kid, "and are you okay with this? They're our friends, this is our fight!"

Kid simply looks back to black star apathetically. "My father is Shinigami. His decisions built this city and have kept it safe. He has nothing but everyone's best intentions in mind with this plan. I intend to follow him."

Black star stares at kid before, before scoffing and turning towards the exit. He slams the door on his way out.

Shinigami turns to his son. "Don't worry about him son. He is only misguided and fueled by emotion. He will soon forgive you."

Kid smiles back at his father, "I know. The lost are often unable to see the folly of their decisions or the damage they may cause, both physical as well as emotional. And as a Shinigami it is my job to lead lost souls from the darkness. I'm going to go talk to Black Star."

Death watches his son leave the room with pride in his heart.

[Tsubaki]

When I wake up the first thing I notice is the humidity in the air. I blink as I take in my strange surroundings, the last place I remembered being is in the middle of the desert. So why are there so many damned trees here? I try to stand up but I feel a tugging on my arm. I look to the right and see Soul still asleep holding onto my hand. I close my eyes as I try to piece together what happened.

When Soul transformed and we resonated I pushed my soul to the max creating wings and flying off into the sky, I didn't have a set destination, but I needed to get away from Kid. Maka and Star I could take but if I had stayed there any longer Kid would have killed me. It's only because of Soul that he didn't. After we got in the air everything else is a blur. Next thing I know I'm waking up with Soul next to me.

After all these weeks of training and fighting so that I could get Soul, it's nice to see my prize laying next to me on the jungle floor. Although I don't know exactly what drove me to my actions. I've never felt so complete in my life. It's as if he's a piece of my soul, almost like my other half. I'm aware that I sound like a deranged fan girl here but that's truly what I feel.

However that's not exactly right. While I feel more complete than I ever have, I can still tell that something's missing. Something small, but it's supposed to be here, it should be mine.

I feel Soul rousing next to me, bringing me back to my original topic of query. Soul. As he gets up and looks at me I can see the expressions on his face change as he himself recollects our previous actions. He lets go of my hand and looks at me with an expression I don't recognize. Does he regret coming with me? Is he going to ask me to take him back?

He finally speaks up, "Do we have anything to eat?"

I almost fall over. "Um, pardon me?"

Now he looks at me with annoyance. "Didn't you hear me? I asked if you have anything to eat? I'm freaking starving over here! How long have we been out anyway?"

I look at the rays of sun shining through the canopy. It seems to be sunrise. "Considering when I fought if I had to guess I'd say about six or seven hours. And as for food I'm sorry I have none. I only woke up a minute or so before you."

He sighs and stands up, "Alright I guess I'll go look for some food. You should stay here and see if you can get a fire going, and maybe figure out where we are. Also um..." he looks away from me with a red face. "Maybe you could see if you could make some clothes or something."

I look down and cover myself as I realize that my shirt was barely more than a few threads after fighting with Kid and Mifune. "Alright you go look for food, considering our environment there should be wild pigs or something around here. I'll uh, figure something out."

Soul nods and leaves with a tiny flash of red still on his face. He doesn't seem to be trying to deceive me, although I have to wonder why he isn't, considering what I've done to get him.

[Soul]

What the fuck am I doing! Why am I cooperating with this psychopath? She killed Mifune and Angela, seemingly just to get to me! I don't know how I sounded so cool earlier when right now I am freaking out!

I take a deep breath. For now working with her seems to be my best option. We're in a foreign place with no food or water and she doesn't seem to be hostile. Also with the abilities she showed during her fight with Kid I don't think I'd get very far if I did try to run away. She is without a doubt stronger than me.

Although I did show a strange power during her fight with Kid. I begin to think as I wander the forest. Right before Kid would have killed her I was able to somehow move fast enough to stop him. And after I transformed and Tsubaki was holding me I could feel my self using that power again before I blacked out.

I hear leaves rustling to my left and look over to see a large boar with black hair staring me down. I grow a scythe blade out of my right forearm and gesture with my left, beckoning for a fight. Lets see if I can test out this power.

The pig charges at me head bent low with sharp tusks aimed at me. I close my eyes tight and try to will my power to activate. I open my eyes hoping to see the boar moving in slow motion. Instead I see it moving in very fast motion. "Oof!" I fly back a few feet as it nails me right in the stomach. I brush my self off and stand up again."You think you can take me piggy? Ill shows you what a death scythe can do! Come at me again and we'll see if you get lucky again."

As if acknowledging my challenge he backs up to his starting position and begins pawing at the ground with his front hoof. I back up a little as be both stare at each other waiting for the other to make a move. He begins his charge and I feel for my soul trying to bring out that power again. After a moment nothing happens so refusing to be beaten by a wild animal, I charge forward blade arm low. After I take my second step, he can't be more than six feet in front if me. That's when everything slows down. As soon as it happens it becomes obvious to me. I doubt that I'm powerful enough to affect time so I must be moving faster, much faster. It only makes sense that I would need to be in motion for it to work. Now if only any of this made sense. I feel a weird sensation pulling at me to turn to my left and go south but I shake it off to focus on the task at hand. With my extreme speed my enemy didn't stand a chance. Without much effort I slice the boar down the side. It was dead before it stopped moving.

I've always viewed my abilities as a way to protect people and vanquish evil while looking cool. I've never actually reveled in killing another living creature. But using that power to kill the boar felt good. To be honest it scared me a little.

When I arrive back at the clearing with the boar hoisted over my shoulder with a branch, Tsubaki's back is turned to me as she tends to the fire she must have built.

"Yo I'm back." I grin at my cool entrance. "You got any idea how to cook this thing?"

Tsubaki turns to look at me and it takes all my will power to hold back the oncoming nose bleed.

She smiles at me, "Oh Soul, that didn't take long. I used the leaves and the remaining thread from my shirt to create a top from the leaves. Do you like it?"

Her leaf top is little more than a teeny tiny leaf bikini barely covering her chest. I feel a small drop of blood escape my nostril when she spreads her arms to showcase her handiwork.

I feel my face heating up as I answer. "Yeah whatever I guess it's cool, anyway I'm still hungry so can we eat this or not?"

[Kid]

I find Black Star in an alley near Maka's apartment. He's standing there waiting for me. Before I can say anything he has me up against the wall. His eyes are angry as he intensely looks at me, his eyes are filled with fury. "What the hell do you think your doing here?"

I smile as I answer, "I'm here to help you and Maka."

Black star backs up for a second and looks at confusion before switching back to anger. "Ha you expect me to believe that! You already proved which side you were on!"

"Because if I didn't then I wouldn't have been able to get this." I pull a file out of my jacket.

Black Star looks at the file suspiciously, "and just what the hell is that?"

"It's everything my father knows about Soul and Tsubaki."

[Maka]

I'm glad that I had a little time to recuperate before Kid and Star walked in. After they walked in and Kid explained everything we immediately began pouring over the files which at first seemed useless until my eyes landed in a file created two days ago. "Hey guys! Come look at this!"

Black Star and Kid crowd around me as I read the report out loud "Through extensive research and Shinigami sama's wisdom there have been several new facts revealed about Tsubaki Natastukasa and Soul Evans. The first is that Soul Evans is a descendant of king Arthur known more commonly as Excalibur." there's a second where we all stop and look at each other.

Black Star looks a me and asks, "You don't think he means 'that Excalibur' right?"

I turn back to the text and continue reading. "I speculate that some of the weapon's power might have been passed on to soul which could explain why he is able to assume weapon form even if no one else in his family can. The second is that the Natatsukasa and Arthur families are linked. It appears that one of the early Natatsukasa absorbed a portion of Excalibur's power. While there is no conclusive evidence I hypothesize that resonating with Evans awakened some of Excalibur's power within her. This may be the cause of her possessive nature towards him. While dissection is the only true way to tell I believe that she is acting on some sort of primal instinct to complete her self. It is entirely possible that she may not even know why she's doing what she is. While I don't know how this will manifest itself, it is likely that she will attempt to 'consume' Soul in order to complete her self."

Silence. Finally Kid speaks up in a shaky voice, "Maybe its not as bad as it seems. You know, I don't think he meant consume as in like eating his body. If she wants power that lies in his soul she will likely just be after that."

I gawk at kid. "So your telling me that she wants to eat his soul! Is that supposed to calm me down?" I stand up yelling in kids face. "How are we supposed to save Soul when he could be already dead!" tears stream down my face.

Kid takes a step closer and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Hey I think that he's probably ok." I give him a questioning look. "That report was almost all conjecture. And even if it is correct he mentioned that she might not know why she's doing what she's doing. If she doesn't realize what her motivations are we may still have time before she can uh, hurt Soul."

I finally manage to calm down. "But it's only a matter of time right? What can we possibly do?"

This time Black Star stood up, "Hey do you really think a great god like me would let anything happen to Soul? Don't worry we'll save him!" Black Star flashes me a reassuring smile.

I wipe my tears as I read the last part of the report, "If that is indeed her intention it is most likely that she won't realize it until the she has absorbed the origin if her power. It is most likely that she will attempt to hunt Excalibur him self. Although again, dissection is needed to confirm." I read the end of the report feeling a little better about the situation.

Kid puts a hand on my shoulder. "Even though I may not like it. At least now we have a plan of action."

I stand up, the tears gone from my face. "That's right. You guys should go home and prepare. Tomorrow we're going to go find Excalibur."

[Tsubaki]

After we ate I used my power to fly above the trees and saw a nearby town. Not wanting to fly in and scare the town's people we decided to simply walk towards there. On our way we decided to take inventory.

Soul finally finished rummaging through his pockets, "Thankfully my wallets in tact so I have about fifty dollars in there. That should be enough for a couple days in a shitty motel before we figure out where we're going. Any ideas on that yet?"

I put my hand on my chin as I continue walking. "Hmm I feel like we should be heading that way." I point towards the south.

Soul looks at me a moment before asking, "why?"

It was a question I wasn't entirely prepared to answer but I articulate my self the best I can, "Well for a while now I've been feeling drawn towards that place. When I flew up into the sky I could tell that there is something there for us. Like we're missing something. Do you understand what I mean?"

He sighs, "Surprisingly, I do. I don't feel it now but earlier when I was hunting that pig I felt that there was some presence in that direction that was drawing me in. What do you think it is?"

Before I can stop myself I say, "Mine." Soul raises an eyebrow at me, "Well what I mean to say is that it feels like a part of me. Maybe something that I'm missing? Regardless I want to have it."

Soul just shrugs his shoulders as he keeps walking, "Whatever floats your boat I guess. As far as plans go that's good for now." he puts his hands behind his head as he walks ahead of me. " I just want to make sure we're on the same page. Don't take my helping you out as a sign that I'm with you now. You're my friend and I'm helping you so that you don't get your self hurt. It's the only reason I intervened back when you were fighting Kid. I'll go with you to this presence. But after that I expect to go home. Understand?"

He turns to look back at me as I smile at him. "Of course, I'll make sure you get back to death city after this!" he turns away satisfied at my answer.

He doesn't see the grin on my face after he turns. 'Yeah right! Now that I've caught you, I never plan on letting you go!'

Hope you liked it! I felt it was pretty solid. No big fights but I did set up the next two and have even given you a possible reason for Tsubaki's craziness.

For any fans of Something Unexpected, sorry no update today. Ive hit a bit of writers block. But don't worry I'm not quitting it!

Please Review


	13. Tsubaki's preperations and Maka's deciet

Shadow Hunter Chapter 13

Deep inside a cave in the middle of nowhere a lonely sword sits. Lost its own will to madness and its form to fate, inside a tortured soul weeps.

[Excalibur]

I sit within my own soul staring at the cause of my turmoil. Excalibur. The source of all my problems, as well as all my power. As if I was sane enough to use it. My memories of my actions are blurred and infrequent, I only know that outside of this place my personality changes completely and I don't think my form is entirely human anymore. Now that I think about it I'm not sure if I ever was. I don't remember much about my self, not even my name. Although I think it started with an "A" I've been calling my self Excalibur so long that I've forgotten who I used to be.

The sword in my hand glows and a deep voice echoes through ought my soul, "Your previous self is of no concern. Excalibur's continued existence is your primary prerogative." I sigh; I've been here listening to this damn sword for longer than I remember. I've resigned myself to this unending torment. Lost all hope of escaping this eternal prison.

[Soul]

Tsubaki and I stand in to doorway of our hotel room for the night. It's an average room, a desk, a chair, and only one bed. Which brings me to our current predicament. I turn to Tsubaki, "So your telling me they didn't have any two bed rooms available?"

She walks in to the room sits down on the bed. "They did, but the prices for those was much higher. Is it bothering you Soul? Are you saying you don't want to share a bed with me?" The way she says that causes blood to rush to my face and my ears to turn red. I take a deep breath to stop the oncoming nosebleed and try my best to answer without stuttering.

"W-well you know, I mean, that uh-"

Thankfully she interrupts my rambling, "It's ok I'm just messing with you Soul." She says with a bright smile. "We can't afford the bigger room because if you've forgotten we don't have very mush money at our disposal right now. You're dressed in rags and as much as I know you love looking at me in my jungle attire I can't go around like this forever. We need clothes food and transportation if we ever want to make it to our destination."

I sigh as I acknowledge her point. "That sounds good and all but where am I going to sleep?" I look over at the old office chair sitting under the desk. "That chair doesn't exactly look comfortable."

She leans back on the bed laying on one of the pillows as she talks, "Don't worry the manager said that we can get a pull out bed if we need one." She blushes a little and looks at me with a smile, "But I don't mind sharing."

I try my best to ignore her statement and cool my face to a relatively normal color as I leave the room. I hear her giggling as I close the door behind me. Once I'm out I sigh and lean against the wall. What is up with Tsubaki? I know she's crazy and a murderer and a whole bunch of other things but lately she has been acting really weird. She kept looking at me the whole walk into the village, and the innuendo and sexual implications have been nonstop. Honestly that girl is going to give me a heart attack. I stand up and decide to go the front desk and get the pull out, but before I get five steps away the door opens behind me.

Tsubaki walks out and quickly catches up with me, "Soul you weren't going to go shopping without me were you?" I open my mouth to tell her I'm just heading to the front desk but she speaks before I can get a word in. "I need to go with you! There are things I need." She puts her hand on her chin. "Although I can't exactly go out shopping like this." She gestures to her leaf made clothing. She finally looks up at me, "Oh I know!" and before I can even ask what she grabs my hand and transforms into her short sword form.

I look at the blade in my hand and see Tsubaki's reflection smiling back at me. I try my best to ignore the fact that this reflection doesn't have clothes as I talk. "What he hell Tsubaki! Why did you transform? Turn back already!"

She just smiles at me, "Oh lighten up Soul. You know I can't walk around the way I was, and I can't exactly let you do clothes shopping for me. This way I can go with you without being noticed." She says this as if this is the most obvious thing in the world.

"Good for you but what am I going to do when people ask me why I'm walking around with a god damn ninja blade?"

"Well it would be easier than me walking around with a giant scythe now wouldn't it?"

Well I mean she does have a poi- "Wait what does that have to do with it I have clothes! And I wouldn't care about you picking my clothes out!"

She seems to think for a second before transforming back. Wait did I actually get her to stop? She opens the door to our room and leads me inside. "If what you said is true, take your clothes off." She says with a grin. I gape. "If you really don't care then give me your clothes and ill go shopping. That is unless you're a liar."

Damn it! She trapped me using my own words. I go in the bathroom and strip down to my boxers and quickly toss my clothes out the door. While mumbling under my breath; "So uncool."

[Tsubaki]

I put on Soul's ripped pants, although they look more like shorts now, and his t-shit on too although I have a little trouble fitting it over my chest. I hesitate before deciding against asking for his boxers as well. I've teased him enough for today.

After getting directions from the concierge I head towards the market. On my way there I get a few looks at my choice of attire but not as many as I would have I had come dressed like Eve. I quickly create a mental shopping list hoping to be as effective as possible. 'Ok, we obviously need clothes, some food maybe ill grab pizza, and toiletries: deodorant, tooth brush, um what els-' I'm interrupted from my thoughts by the feeling of running into some one.

It seems that amidst my mental rambling I took a wrong turn somewhere and am now in an empty alleyway. I look up and see that I ran into someone who seems more monster than man, he has giant muscles all over his body and while I'm on the ground he doesn't even look phased. Behind him are four slightly smaller guys probably his entourage. I quickly stand up and dust my self off; I don't want any trouble with these guys. "I'm sorry for running into you, it was my fault I wasn't paying attention. Please forgive me." I give a slight bow and turn around to leave to head towards the market.

That's when he put his hand on my shoulder. "Come on babe, if your really sorry you gotta show me. Dey say actions speak louder dan words." His gang chuckles as they all surround me. "You shouldn't try to run. Do you know why we hang out here? This is my favorite alley because the two building on either side of us have three-foot thick walls. Thick enough that no matter how loud you scream no one will hear. But that doesn't have to be a bad thing for you. If you play nice we could have you scream out in pleasure instead of pain."

I can't say I didn't try. A smile creeps onto my face and I can hear his crews get exited probably thinking I was going to go along with this. "Are you sure nobody can hear us from here?"

His head nods emphatically, "Trust me." From the look in his eyes I can tell I'm not the first girl he's cornered here.

I grab his hand off of my shoulder and turn around with a sweet smile on my face. "Well then, boys" I hold his hand in both of mine. "Lest get Started!" With a grin I turn around and using all my physical strength I hurl the large man into his friends. It takes them a second but soon they realize that they've been led on.

The first one to react is the one standing closest to the exit of the alley. He brandishes a knife and runs at me "You gonna regret that bitch!" He thrusts the knife at me and I go into smoke bomb mode as he passes through me. I reform on the other side of him. He looks back at me with fear on his face. "What the fuck you some kinda ghost? Fuck that shit! I'm out." He tries to look for an exit but then realizes that I'm now blocking the only one. "Shit! HELP! THERES SOME KINDA MONSTER!" He screams.

He and the rest of the gang now seem to realize that I may not be so easy to take out. My smile grows "Aren't you the ones that said there's no point in screaming?"

The leader finally recovers and punches the screaming guy in the face. "Shut up! Now I don't know what she is but there is no way any member of my gang is going to cry and runaway because of one freaky whore!" My eyebrow twitches at that. "There are five of us and one of her." He picks up a rusty looking pipe from the ground and his followers copy. "Now lets teach her a lesson."

The atmosphere becomes even tenser as the hysteria stops and all the members now regard me with cool dispositions, makeshift bats in hand. They seem ready to fight. Good. Without warning I dash at them almost to quick to see. They've taken up an arrowhead formation with the leader in the front and two on either side of him. I dash right past the leader and attack the lackey on his right. I shift my hand into a kusarigama blade and slash downwards. He raises his pipe to block but my hand slices through it easily also scratching his eye. I notice the boss out of the corner of my eye turning to swing at me and I grab his friend, who is now screaming in pain and clutching his eye. I grab him by the hair and use his skull to block the incoming pipe blow. As soon as the hit connects he goes silent.

With that enemy down I dash to the next one on that side before the boss can interfere. He sees me coming and swings his pipe horizontally like a baseball bat, I slide under his swing and through his legs before popping up behind him and using my Kusarigama to slit his throat.

The boss sees his man go down and swings at me enraged. I dodge his first swing and then turned my hand into short sword mode. His second swing was sloppier than the first and using my short sword I cut off the hand holding the pipe. I can hear the man behind me getting ready for his attack. I quickly jump up and use the leader as a springboard to launch my self into my would-be assailant. However before the hit I go into smoke bomb mode and detonate letting his swing pass harmlessly through the smoke. I materialize right in front of him, he takes a step back in surprise and I sink my short sword hand into his gut.

Now I have to admit I admire this last guy. Despite seeing his comrades go down and his leader maimed, instead of running he picks up one of his fallen comrade's weapons and is now dual wielding pipes with a smirk on his face. He runs at me with both of his weapons held high. Admirable, but stupid. As he strikes I don't even bother dodging, black lines run along my skin as my arm turns into a familiar black blade. I don't so much block as I hold my arm up and this own force cuts the pipes in half against it. He was running at me with enough momentum that all I do is angle the blade a bit more towards him and he impales himself going down almost to my wrist before I shake him off.

Now that the pawns are taken care of I turn to the only living member of the gang. The leader stares at me while holding his mutilated hand. At some point it occurs to him that I'm now on the other side of him and thus no longer blocking his escape. He breaks out into a dead sprint, running like his life depends on it towards the exit.

I love it when they run. I summon a shadow puppet that extends it's arm and grabs the leader's ankle forcing him to the ground. The man, if I can still call him that, begins crying and trying to claw his way back with his one good hand as my puppet drags him closer to me, back into the shadows.

[Marie]

I sigh for the hundredth time as me and Stein make our way through the woods of Eastern Europe. When lord Death sent Stein and I out to retrieve Soul and Tsubaki I never imagined it would mean going all the way to Europe. I mean when I found out where death was sending us I was overjoyed! I've never been to Europe before, what am I going to wear, what am I going to buy? However that fantasy was cut short when our helicopter stopped over a clearing in the middle of the forest.

Since then it's been four days of me and Stein hiking through the forest, looking for god knows what. I sigh again. All of a sudden I stop, although not by choice, Stein stops in front of me and I find my self, barreling into his back. I fall back on my butt and takes a small step forward but otherwise doesn't acknowledge me. "What's wrong Stein? Why are we stopping? Now that I think about it why are we here?"

He speaks without looking at me instead heading towards his right through some thick bushes while I try and keep up with him. "You read my report right? The one on Natatsukasa and Evans."

I blush a little as I remember that I spilled coffee on the report immediately after receiving it. "I uh skimmed it."

I hear Stein sigh as he continues through the bushes. "Well it was hypothesized that Soul and Tsubaki might gain portions of Excalibur's power and be influenced by them. Which explains Tsubaki's rash behavior. However not in the report is the story of how Excalibur came to be. Skipping all the non-essential information Excalibur was a sword created by Eibon and he used to power of the philosopher's stone to keep its power in check. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"Um not really." I admit bashfully. Finally the underbrush clears and we stand in a clearing with a small rundown house in the center. Stein walks towards the house as he talks.

"The reason lord death summoned us was to stop Tsubaki and if necessary Soul as well. We are here because my hypothesis about Soul and Tsubaki was correct and they have developed strange abilities such as flight and super speed and we don't even know what else they can do." He pushes down the remains of the front door and proceeds to begin looking around the house. I follow and look around as well even though I still don't know why were here. "To combat the abilities that they've gained from Excalibur; we're going to find the philosophers stone."

"So that explains why were here. But where exactly is here? Why would the philosophers stone be in this rundown house?"

Stein turns stops searching the bottom floor and proceeds to begin up the stairs, which doesn't look entirely safe. "My research showed that this is the area where King Arthur spent his childhood. By researching population movements of the time as well as the settlements of the era and Arthur's pre King income it's highly likely that he lived around this area. I believe that this was at one point is house." He goes into what looks like a small bedroom and goes over to a desk. "Found it." I walk up to him and see him holding what looks to be an extremely old journal. He rips opens the book and catches a small ring as it falls out.

The ring is just a small silver band with a medium sized red sphere in the center. "Stein is that it? I thought the stone was supposed to be big enough to sheathe the sword in?"

He holds the ring up examining it before putting it in his pocket. "It is, or was. Arthur was a poor child and after ripping the sword out he used it's power to shatter the stone and sold off the pieces. This is the only piece he kept. I found its location through one his memoirs that he wrote before going mad. We have what we came for so let's go. Now all we need to do if find Tsubaki."

[Maka]

I stand in front of a door id hoped to never see again. I keep whispering to myself 'It's for Soul, 'It's for Soul.' I raise my arm to knock but lower it because I know what will follow, and besides that I'm not even sure that this will work. I stand there in indecision and think about why I'm here in the first place.

Back when I fought Tsubaki had a random scythe; it was the first non-magical weapon I've ever used. I trained and practiced with it so I could fight Tsubaki and defeat her. It wasn't even close. She tossed me around, played with me, it was humiliating. Me, daughter of the greatest scythe meister of her generation; and I'm the greatest of my generation, beaten like I was nothing. I realized that it couldn't possibly have been my skills that were lacking so it had to be my equipment.

After that I looked up all the scythe magical weapons in the city and sadly there are only two. The first is Soul and the second is… I take a deep breath and think one more time 'this is for Soul' before knocking on the door. At first it's silence I let out my breath turning around to walk home "He's probably not home."

As I lift my leg to step off of his porch the door flies open and all of a sudden I'm lifted into the air by strong arms, "MY DARLING MAKA CHAN HAS COME TO VISIT!" Goddamn it.

A half hour later my father has calmed down and were sitting down across for each other having tea while staring awkwardly at each other. I try not to look around the house because for me this place holds more sad memories than happy. I by chance see a hole in the wall that was poorly patched long ago. That was left when mama heard papa was cheating. She punched his face through the drywall. For me this house was nothing but the arena in which my parents fought.

"So Maka, what brings you here?" Papa asks with a disgustingly hopeful look on his face, maybe he thinks I'm here to forgive him. As if I would ever do that.

I consider my answer and know what I'm going to do is underhanded and manipulative but I don't have a choice. 'It's for Soul' "Papa? Do you really love me like you say?"

His disgusting cheating smile spreads even wider across his face. "Of course Maka, Papa will always love his dear Maka chan! All I want is for you to be safe and happy!"

"Do you mean that, papa?" He nods his head and moves to the couch that I'm sitting on and puts is arm around me. I hide my face as I say this next part. "If- if that's true, if your not lying to me prove it. If you want me to forgive you."

At the mention of possible redemption he almost jumps up. He hugs me and says excitedly. "Yes! Any thing you want Maka chan! Anything just say it!"

I almost smile at how easy this is although using him like this makes me sick. Using people is what he does. "Then help me get Soul." He looks at me in shock before putting his arm down and looking at me seriously. "You said you want me happy and safe right? Soul makes me happy like nothing else and I'm going to go after him. There is nothing you can do to stop me. The only way to keep me safe is to help me. And after that I'll forgive you and we can be a family again? Don't you want that papa?" I don't know when I started crying; maybe it was at the thought of having a family again even though I know it's a lie.

He gives me a solemn look and seems to be internally battling himself. "Maka, baby I would but; that is going against Shinigami's direct orders. If you want I can talk to him I can make saving soul my number one-"

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Papa I need this! This is the one thing I want! Please as your daughter I beg you! You say that you won't because of Shinigami sama but tell me what's more important to you? Your boss, or your daughter?"

"I –uh, its that" he sighs. "You are baby. To papa Maka is always number one." He hugs me and I hug him back for the first time in years. 'This was all for Soul'

[Soul]

I shift uncomfortably on the pull out bed. It's hard springs pressing into my back. I'm wearing some shorts and a shirt Tsubaki got me while at the market. I look over to her looking so comfortable asleep on the bed. I can't see it but se said that pajamas were a waste and so she crawled into bed dressed in only her underwear. I swear that woman is trying to give me a heart attack. I shift again on this goddamn pull out. 'I'm never going to get to sleep like this' in the morning we plan to leave this place, now that we have supplies, and head towards the strange presence. If I don't get some sleep I know that trip will be even more miserable. I spare another glance towards Tsubaki; she did say she wouldn't mind sharing.

I get off of the pull out and walk towards the bed. Tsubaki is laying the middle sleeping peacefully. 'She's sleeping under the sheets and comforter so if I stay on top of the sheets it's ok, right?' I gently lift the comforter and slip inside. I try my best so not bother Tsubaki but in a bed this size I can't help but brush against her. I feel her heat even through the sheets. I end up facing away from Tsubaki, towards the wall. Once I lay down I instantly feel better. It's not just the mattress or the fact that I can feel Tsubaki's warm body through the sheets. It's my Soul. For the first time in a long time I feel at peace.

_**Bam! Another chapter finished! Woot I finnaly got my self a new computer! Hopfully this will make writing easier, cross your fingers! So what did you think of the chapter? Nothing really important happened (exept stein finding the philosophers stone) But this is getting ready for the big chapter whice if it's not next chapter it'll probably be the one after that. By the way did you guys see the whole philosophers stone thing coming back? I guess I only briefly mentioned it but I didn't want to foreshadow to much and give it away. Surely you caught on faster than Marie did though right? **_

_**If you're a fan of my other stories let me give you some updates:**_

_**For all the Some thing Unexpected fans, im sorry about the long wait. I would tell you im almost done but that would be a lie **____** the reson this is taking so long is partially it's not getting as much support as Shadow Hunter so I feel more obligated to work on Shadow hunter. The other part is that I really odnt know what to write. I know I was heading somewhere with it but I forgot. But don't worry ill figure it out eventually bot for now don't expect anything anytime soon.**_

_**For fans of the Great City, don't worry. I know exactly where this story is going to go. Just a little confused as to how ill get it there. That ill figure out shortly so don't worry. The next chapter of great city will probably be out before the next Shadow hunter, probably.**_

_**Now that I'm done rambling thanks for reading and as always reviews are appreciated :3**_


	14. Rising Action: Tsubaki's Play

Shadow hunter Chapter 14

[Maka]

The walk away from Death city was a little awkward. Four teenagers leaving the city against orders, with one of the highest-ranking members of society with them. The irony was not lost on me. Black Star was being uncharacteristically quiet, in fact so was everybody else. Not being able to take any more silence, I turn to Black Star as we walk. "So I saw Excalibur when he came to the city with Hiro but you and Kid actually hung around with him right? What was he like?"

Black Star flinched a little at Excalibur's mention, "He was weird. He was demanding and rude and not at all awesome like me. But, there was something off about him. It was like underneath all his crazy, he felt, strong."

Kid spoke up from the back of the group, "It's true. When I was with him I felt it too. It felt like there was like an ocean of power beneath the surface, and when we fought him. It was like nothing else. We were completely over powered by him and Hiro, who we out class in every way, no offense to Hiro of course. When Hiro held Excalibur he moved faster than anything else, he could fly, and his strength was unparalleled. The fact that he beat Star, Kilik and I shows his strength."

"Yah but if we were really trying we coulda blasted him BAM!" Patty yells out behind Kid.

Liz looks at Patty as if she grew a second head, "Are you crazy Patty, you felt the soul energy coming offa that thing if he had decided to hit us for real we would have went bam!"

"Nah sis when next time we see him imma Tear him apart!" Patty yells while holding up one arm.

While all the rest of my friends are laughing and talking about Excalibur I fall quite and think to my self, with every new account of the weapons power I get a little more nervous of our upcoming confrontation. "Well we don't have to beat Excalibur right? If he's as stubborn as you say I doubt he'll freely follow Tsubaki and if he's a strong as you say I don't think that she can kill him."

My father walking next to me seems to notice my distress, "That's right, in a worst case scenario all we have to do is defend Excalibur from Tsubaki, however it's way more likely that Excalibur will be able to defend itself. While Tsubaki did show increased strength at the last battle she only beat you because you were unprepared. This time we know exactly what we are up against."

[Soul]

I closed my eyes tightly trying to block out the suns rays and get a few more minutes of sleep. I turn and bury my face into my nice warm pillow. I feel myself getting closer to sleep as I breath in and out, the rhythmic breathing of my pillow lulling me back to-,what? Wait a second. I slowly open my eyes and see Tsubaki's smiling face above mine. Oh shit. I quickly sit up and wildly scoot backwards muttering apologies and hoping she wont hit me to hard. I cross my arms over my head and close my eyes preparing for the worst. I feel a hand on my arm and grit my teeth in preparation. "How did you sleep?"

Maybe she hit me so hard I'm suffering hallucinations but it almost sounded like she wasn't mad. I risk a glance and see Tsubaki smiling sweetly at me while resting a hand on my arm. "Um- well, I guess." Is she really not mad? " Your not mad at me for moving onto your bed? I don't have to worry about a Tsubaki chop? "

She shook her head, "Of course not. I even said it was okay; you're the one who insisted on a spare bed, I'm nothing like Maka. I'm glad you decided to sleep with me." Her smile set me on edge a little, and her innuendo was hard to miss, but I sighed and lowered my arms in relief thinking of the beating Maka would have given me. "We should probably get ready to go. I don't know exactly where were going but I get the feeling we'll need to cover a lot of ground." I nod and get out of the bed looking for the bag with my clothes. When I find them and turn around I see Tsubaki get out of the bed wearing only what she went to sleep in. My eyes may have lingered longer than I intended. She saw me and giggled, "Like what you see?" I turned back so fast I heard my neck snap running into the bathroom to get changed.

After we pack all of our things me and Soul set out on the road to our destination. About two hours into the walk I see shadows sifting out of the corner of my eye. An uneasy feeling settles in my gut. Someone is following us. Soul looks at me with concern. "Are you alright? You look a little sick."

I hesitate for a second before saying, "Actually I don't feel too good, I'm going to go to the bathroom, ill be right back." I walk off into the forest towards the presence.

Once out of earshot from Soul. "Come on out. I know your there." No one responds but I hear a rustling of leaves to my right. Before I raise my arm to attack I see a familiar face. "Mitch?" Standing before me is the bartender from the Kishin coliseum. His face is human looking he has a smooth baldhead with a long scruffy beard down to his chest. From the waist up he appears to be an old, slightly dirty, slightly overweight male; below that he has eight long spider-like legs, all pitch black with dark hairs sticking out of them. Despite being a friend I still keep my guard up. I doubt he came all this way just to chat. "What are you doing here? How did you even find me?"

He smiles at me, "You don't seem all that happy to see me; something on your mind? You want some grape juice?" I glare at him and start gathering shadows around me. "Heh, I'm sorry, it's just been so long. Now lets see why am I here? To find you of course. Your reputation from the arena has spread far. There are many Kishin who respect you. And I must say earning the respect of my kind is something not easily done."

I allow the shadows around me to return to their original positions but keep my glare leveled at him. "That still doesn't answer why you're here. Or how you found me."

"Ah, right my bad. As an old man I tend to ramble. The reason I'm here is because as I said before many of us respect you and many are willing to follow you, even more than followed Asura. We blindly followed his madness but we want a true leader, a monarch to rule us. You lived amongst us, fought in our arena and now I'm here to ask you to lead us."

I almost laugh. Lead them? The Kishin? "You expect me to lead a bunch of Kishin? By definition you're all insane. How the hell would I even lead an army of insane monsters?"

He chuckles a bit. "If you think we are the monsters you should see the way you fought in that arena. As for how; well madness comes in all different forms. There are some who have lost all grip on their sanity they can't be controlled. However there are others like me. Did you see any of us in the arena attack someone for no reason? Probably, but not all of us. If we did there was no way the establishment could even exist. We would have never been able to build it. Yet we did. There is a lot you don't know about our kind, and a lot you don't need to. You once told me that the reaper was your enemy. All you need to know is that we hate the reaper, and we follow those with power. If you still want to wage war against the Shinigami we will be your army. All you have to do is lead us."

Silence. I think over the impossible proposal. Controlling an army. With that I could take down the DWMA, I could crush death. If I destroy death city, destroy Maka. Then all Soul will have is me, he would never leave me. He would have nothing to go back to. I would be all he has, his everything. "I'll do it." I see Mitch smile.

"So Kishin queen, what is your first order?"

Now it's my turn to smile, "There is a blond scythe meister who is no doubt coming after me, Maka Albarn. Kill her."

"Very well my queen." He does a little bow and reaches into his pocket and hands me a pitch-black whistle with carvings and markings on the side. "If you blow this, Kishin loyal to you will come to your aid."

He turns to leave, but before I go I ask something that's been bothering me. "You never did tell me how you found me."

He turns towards me and lets out a laugh, revealing several rows of razor sharp teeth, "How did you feel me coming when your partner didn't? We Monsters can sense our own." And with that he vanished.

[Stein]

After retrieving the Stone, Marie and I quickly make our way back to Shibsen to report in to lord death. I have a small sense of pride as I walk under the guillotine walkways towards lord death. I'm not a prideful person however I am pleased that I managed to return with my task completed only a few days after it was assigned. Death however didn't seem so happy.

Before I could even say anything I heard Shinigami call out to me, "Stein. Did you retrieve the stone?" I nodded pulling out the small red crystal Marie and I had received. "And you believe that you could use this to subdue Ms. Natatsukasa?" I nodded again, every time I thought about it my hypothesis became more certain in my mind. While I'm only ninety nine percent sure I wasn't going to let that one percent keep me from saying yes. "Good, because we have a problem."

Just as quickly as we had entered the city Marie and I were off again. Marie complained about our quick departure on the helicopter seat next to mine. "How come we have to leave already? I never even got to take my shoes off."

I ignored her whining as I thought of what lord death had told me. Could Spirit really have betrayed him? I know he has always had an obsession with his family, something I could never understand, but his loyalty to Shinigami had always been absolute. The only possible explanation would be that Maka asked him to help her, but if it cam to that I'm sure that he would have stood strong and denied her as well as reported it to Shinigami. Right? And Maka is a good girl she would never purposefully manipulate her fathers devotion to her for her personal gain. Would she? The more I pondered the questions the more worried I became, because if Maka's obsession with Soul was so strong that she would be willing to use her own father then she is clearly more disturbed than she let on. This level of obsession is a very clear sign of; "Madness."

Steins voice shocked the still complaining Marie. "What did you say?"

Stein continued to mull his thought over for a second before replying. "The level of obsession that Maka has with Soul is not love, and is far beyond friends caring for one another, this obsession that she has is a sign of madness."

Marie frowned thinking for a second before smiling. "Aren't you forgetting about her anti-madness wavelength? How could she possibly be affected by madness while she has that? Besides if she was wouldn't someone have noticed by now?"

Stein didn't hesitate before answering, "I did." Stein paused before elaborating. "Weeks ago before this all started when Shinigami decided it would be a good idea for Tsubaki and Soul to partner together I felt it. When he made the announcement I felt a wave of possessive madness. It was subtle but still there. I assumed it came from Soul because he was distraught at his new meister change so I only focused on him. However if it was Maka, then that madness has been festering and growing since then only been growing and festering. Her anti madness wavelength may protect her from foreign madness. But to save her from her own madness she's always had Soul."

[Maka]

"Are we there yet Kid?"

For what be the umpteenth time Kid was forced to answer. "No Patty."

This had been going on for about four hours, and needless to say we were all annoyed and the group morale was at an all time low. "Although it shouldn't be much farther."

We all perk up hearing this a spring in our step as we speed to our destination. When suddenly I hear it and stop. The others look at me before they hear it as well. At first I think it's a waterfall. "What is that rushing water?"

Kid pulls out Beelzebub and flies into the air. He yells down to us. "It looks like some kind of cloud heading our way. It's black like a storm we shoul-"

All of a sudden Kid stopped, I was about to ask what he saw but then it slowly came into view. First I saw the teeth, then the wings, then the massive glowing eyes. "Kishin!" Before I even turn around everybody is in battle positions years of combat experience showing itself. There was one massive birdlike kishin Flying towards us with many smaller flying kishin flying around it, all of them headed directly for us. "Should we run?"

Kid lands next to me Liz and Patty already in hand. "No use they've already seen us. These kishin are acting irregularly. They normally don't travel in large groups and they are all heading directly towards us. Our only option is to fight."

Black star steps in front of me. "HA! That's the way I like it! A god like me never runs away! Like a bunch of lousy kishin could ever touch the mighty Black Star!" My dad looks at me and I hesitantly reach out take his hand. When he transforms I almost don't catch him, he's a lot heavier than soul, and his balance is slightly off, but I can still feel a resonance between us. I suppose even if I do hate him he's still my father.

In the black steel reflection of his blade I see the concerned face of my papa. "Maka chan are you sure that your up to this? No body believes in you more than papa but its been a while since you've been out in the field."

I smirk down. "You think I would let Tsubaki get stronger without improving on my own? She only beat me last time because I didn't have a real weapon. With you she won't stand a chance. Let me show you." I let my soul wave pulse in time with my fathers and the same wings that I used to associate with Souls blade spring from my father. I turn to my allies "Stay close together, take out the little ones first"

I set off first flying straight into the enemy ranks at top speed. Right before I hit the swarm I turn off the wings and grab my father cutting through several small kishin. One dives at me and I jump off of its head to gain more altitude before spinning around decapitating three more I backflip midair and gracefully land on the back of the large kishin. In the sky I see black star hurtling through the kishin like a blue cannon ball his bare fists disintegrating them. Kid is to my right, the middle line in his hair connected as Liz and Patty's bullets pierce ten kishin at a time. What used to be an oppressive cloud of kishin is now reduced to one giant kishin and a sea of red souls. I hear my father through our resonance, "How did you kids get so good? Just months ago this would have been too much for you."

Kid and Blackstar land next to me. "I told you. There's is no way we're letting Tsubaki keep Soul." My Father looked into my eyes, then looked at my friends.

He smiled at me *sigh* "Kids aren't supposed to grow up so fast." All of a sudden the giant kishin we were standing on does a barrel roll knocking us all off. I reactivate my wings and catch Black star while Kid hovers on Beelzebub next to us. "so how do we go at that thing? Its massive!"

Black star yells out while holding on to my arm, "There's only one way a god like me can handle his problems! Head First! MAKA!" on his prompt I Start speeding towards the giant gaping mouth of the kishin before throwing Black star at it. "WAHOO!" The kishin opens its mouth hoping for a nice ninja snack instead black star flips at the last second landing right over its eye, or at least where it used to be.

The kishin howls in pain at the loss of its eye and tosses around throwing star off of its head. I Dive down and catch him before me makes a star shaped splat. Mean while Kid is zooming all around the bird peppering it with shots. I can barely hear him as he shouts down at me "I'm sending it your way Maka! Be ready!" I lower me and star to the ground and grip my scythe tightly. Kid backs away for a second before I feel his soul pulse and see Liz and Patty in execution mode. Twin lasers pierce the bird's right wing sending it hurtling towards the ground, towards me.

"Ready papa?" he nods. I reach out to my soul and let pulse my wavelength in time with my fathers. Its shaky at first but after a second his soul is reverberating in time with mine as our resonance rates rise. "Lets go Soul Resonance!" The kishin falls ever faster, three, two, one! I jump into the air swinging at its neck. "Witch Hunter!" When I land all that's left is one giant red soul.

After the fight we decide to take a short break before resuming our journey. The last stretch to Excalibur's cave is a dense jungle so we take some time to rest in the shade of the trees. I'm the first to speak up, "So we can all agree that what just happened wasn't normal right?" unanimous nods from the group, although I think Patty is just humming something in her head. "Any ideas on what is actually going on?"

I'm not surprised to hear Star get in the first word, I am surprised that what he says makes sense though, "Well, the only other time when kishin were this organized was when they were all following Asura's madness right? Maybe Asura's back?"

My father shakes his head, "No, if Asura was back we would know, Maka would probably sense it immediately."

"However", interjects Kid. "He may be onto something. What if the kishin have a new leader? The little we do know about them shows that all they really respect is strength. If there was somebody strong enough they could in theory lead them."

After that it's silence, we're all thinking the same thing. Liz is the one who says it; "Tsubaki was really strong when we last saw her huh?"

My mind is spinning, "but there's no way Tsubaki is leading the kishin right! I mean do kishin even take orders? They were just blindly following Asura! Were probably over thinking this!"

Papa stands up and puts a hand on my shoulder, and strangely I'm not completely repulsed by his presence. "I'm sure that's it Maka. Even if the kishin did have a new leader what are the chances it would be Tsubaki?"

Papa's probably right I'm sure I'm just over thinking it. Besides, even if it was true. That doesn't change anything. It doesn't matter who Tsubaki has on her side. I will save Soul. No matter what.

[Soul]

Tsubaki and I finally arrive around sundown. Our destination appears to be the mouth of a large cave in the middle of the forest. As we drew closer the feeling in my chest became strong enough that I began to feel drawn here even without using my new powers. "What do you think is in there?"

I look over at Tsubaki and see that creepy look in her eye. Whenever she looks at me she has it, it's almost like a hungry look and its really started creeping me out. Right now it looks as if she's about to start salivating staring at the mouth of the cave.

"Lets go." Tsubaki walks forward without even acknowledging me. I feel like this is the first time in hours that I haven't had her eyes constantly on me. The more time I spend with her the less sane she seems. She's been a little off but as we've grown closer to the cave she's grown more obsessive. Never the less I follow her inside, following not only her but the feeling in my chest as well.

When we finally get to the inner chambers of the cave, there is a large room with a single ray of sunlight penetrating the room. Within that light is a lone blade, one that I recognize from school. "Excalibur." The sword glows a bright yellow and then transforms. However instead of the odd comical creature id seen it turn into before, in front of me now was a boy looking around eight years old with blond hair wearing rags. "Excalibur?" I look over at Tsubaki and wish I didn't. She's looking at the boy the same way she's been leering at me. I understand why, when I look at Excalibur the feeling in my chest intensifies. He is definitely what were here for.

Tsubaki finally speaks up, "What are you?" Her voice is almost harsh as she stares the boy down.

He looks up at Tsubaki and I see his eyes, they glow bright gold, its like I can see his power leaking out through his eyes. _"I am Excalibur," _When he speaks its as if multiple people are speaking at once. "-_acting under the philosopher stone protocol. Current prerogative is to continue existing. You do not have authorization to interact. Current threat level is four. If you do not leave immediately threat level will increase to three and threats will be eliminated." _

Eliminated? That is Excalibur no doubt. I could never forget this power. I start tugging on Tsubaki's hand, "We need to go, we can't take him!" she doesn't even budge I look at her eyes and almost double take. Her entire eye I pitch black, I can't see any sort of pupil but I'm sure her pitch black eyes are locked with Excalibur's golden eyes. Fear strikes through me, madness. I need to run, I have to leave, I'm going to DIE!" I try to yank my hand away from Tsubaki's to make a mad dash for the mouth of the cave, for life. However I cant even move my hand from Tsubaki's. I pull and struggle to no avail, when I look down at my hand I see what looks to be dark tattoos snaking there way across my arm. I panic even more. The marks spread and thrive I lose complete control of every part of my skin they adorn. Within seconds they cover half my body, and not much longer I'm a prisoner trapped in the unmoving shell of my body. The only things I can move are my eyes. My point of view shifts dramatically and I realize that I'm in my weapon form. From my new position I can look at Tsubaki's face again.

Her mouth is twisted into a sinister smile. It scares me that it looks so much like Maka's grin when we fought Crona. The twisted sneer of madness. I try to struggle against my bonds to no avail. It's scary to realize that Tsubaki has complete power over me. "We can't take him you said." I snap out of my thought hearing her voice. I almost didn't recognize it as hers because of how deep it sounds. Her voice is animalistic, barbaric. "Because that's exactly what I'm going to do."

The boy stands up glowing again, when it stops instead of a boy Excalibur now looks around our age with blond hair down to his shoulders wearing a tunic. With the same voice as earlier, _"Target adrenaline levels increased. Weapon drawn. Soul strength immense. Threat level upgraded to two. Body shift to accommodate complete. Threat execution, commence."_

That's it for this chapter! It took so long because I started my first semester of college this past fall Go SFSU! I've been so strapped for time so I finally got it out. Also there was a real lack of reviews for the last chapter so it fell down a little lower on my priorities. Never the less here it is.

A couple things I want to talk about though:

First I've gotten some feed back on the way I write grammar and such, for any spelling mistakes, I'm sorry. I try to edit but editing is boring so I listen to music while proof reading (I do this in school too) so I obviously miss some things. Grammar wise though I'm pretty good at. Some people have pointed out how there are a lot of run-on / incomplete sentences and thoughts in Tsubaki and Maka's dialogue. That's on purpose. I don't like forget how to write when I get there, I do that because that's how I want their thoughts to be read. Especially with Tsubaki some parts are supposed to sound choppy and crazed, for example when she's thinking over the kishin army prospect. I originally wrote that in one or two sentences. I turned it into like five and added a bunch of pauses because that's how Tsubaki processed her thoughts there, choppy and in segments.

As for my other stories: im still writing them. Both of them. The great city im focusing more on though because of the things ive written that's probably my favorite, but as long as people continue to review shadow hunter it will rise in prority on my list.

Well that's all from me, thank you for reading this far, I really appreciate it (especially because of the rough start) please review tell me how you feel about the chapter or the story in general. Do you think it's improved? Gone down hill? Or am I just all over the place? I would really like to know.

If your interested in To aru check out my story in that category "The Great City" or if you like Naruto you might enjoy "Something Unexpected"

:3


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